St. Kitts and Nevis completes first phase of CEBO Training

Members of Swift and Sleek Car Wash hard at work during selling period on Saturday

The General Manager of the Development Bank of St. Kitts and Nevis, Len Harris (in blue shirt) was among persons patronizing Sweet Lil Things

Members of Flavour of Rhythm allows a student at the Sandy Point Primary School to dip for a prize after purchasing their product

A member of Nut E Touch engages clients

Basseterre, St. Kitts, January 21, 2013 (SKNIS): Twenty one young persons from St. Kitts and from Nevis have a better understanding of what it takes to succeed in business having completed six days of intense entrepreneurial training at the St. Johnston Community Center.

The youth made the most of the January 14 to 19 workshop absorbing the content on market research, developing a product based on that research, writing a business plan, applying for a loan to start their company and offering the product/service to the public on the final two days.

The training organized by the Department of Youth Empowerment in partnership with the Division of Youth Services in Nevis utilized the Creativity for Employment and Business Opportunity (CEBO) manual developed by the CARICOM Secretariat.

At the closing ceremony, on Saturday the Chief Executive Officers of the four companies formed presented their financial reports. The most successful company earned more than 200 percent profit. Two other companies had healthy profits while the fourth had some operational challenges which impacted sales.

Participant Jereth Morton described the workshop as “a lever to pry open the door of opportunities for business success.” He expressed appreciation for the insight into local and regional market potential and said that he was devising strategies to establish his own business.

Pierre Liburd, Senior Youth Officer in the Department of Youth Empowerment, congratulated the groups noting that they worked hard. He reminded that this was “a learning process and was pleased that persons were walking away with the knowledge, experience and were more aware and empowered to pursue their economic endeavours.”

Mr. Liburd thanked the Development Bank of St. Kitts and Nevis for being the primary sponsor of the training. He also expressed attitude to the Department of Community and Social Development, Caribbean Journey Masters, the Department of Sports, eCaribbean Ltd, Positively Inclined, the Department of Human Resources, the Government Printery, the Ministry of Trade, St. Kitts and Nevis Information Service (SKNIS), Operation Future and the St. Johnston community.

The national training was the final of three workshops implemented by the Department of Youth Empowerment using the draft manual which is also being piloted in Jamaica, Dominica, Belize and the Bahamas. At the end of the pilot phase, a regional meeting will be held to evaluate and finalize the manual.

Participants from National CEBO Workshop and facilitators (seated) in group photo