Global Entrepreneurship Week

GLOBAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP WEEK continues to be the world’s largest and most prestigious celebration of innovators and job creators who launch start-ups and bring ideas to life, drive economic growth and expand human welfare. Today, Entrepreneurship is viewed as a solution to the many socio-economic challenges with the potential to positively impact basic human survival and also reveal the phenomenal levels of creativity and innovation that reside within these individuals.

For the past eight (8) years, local GEW Host, Youth Business Trinidad and Tobago, have ensured that Trinidad and Tobago remains included on the list of some 170 countries. Over this period, multi-faceted profiles of participants not only redefined the significance of entrepreneurial development in Trinidad and Tobago, but also demonstrated exceptional levels of diversity in various sectors including: Agriculture & Agro-Processing, Creative Industries, Light Manufacturing, Tourism and Hospitality Management, Make-Up/Skin Care, Health Care, Automobile Management, Catering/Event Management, Environmental and Waste Management; Software Engineering/Computer-Aided Design and On-Line Marketing/Sales.

Inculcating entrepreneurial thinking is what we both share in common. For example, Kids from age 5 were also exposed to workshops and activities aimed at creating an entrepreneurial mindset. GEW 2018 witnessed the first-ever Youth Entrepreneurship Competition which provided an opportunity for youths throughout Trinidad and Tobago to showcase their creative and innovative potential.

For these reasons we have partnered with YBTT over the past 4 years with the intention to help groom entrepreneurs. Our work with them has, in many ways, inspired us to pursue our own ways of empowering entrepreneurship – whether it be through financial services or in workshops and programmes geared toward that end; the main goal has always been to do what we can to strengthen the sector.

The theme for this year is unlocking doors to Entrepreneurial freedom. We are honoured to be the main sponsor of the Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW), a time for entrepreneurs, innovators, investors, and collaborators from around the world to connect, share ideas, and get inspired.

According to the World Bank’s Doing Business Report, Trinidad and Tobago has dropped 3 ranks from 102nd to 105th between 2018 and 2019.

A prosperous economic future depends on many factors and high among these is the ability of entrepreneurs and innovators to action ideas into great enterprises. There is a need for our country’s entrepreneurial sector to develop given the pockets of unemployment and under-employment in both the public and private sectors and the ever singing chorus for a diversified economy.

We strongly believe that entrepreneurs are national assets, the backbone of a country’s development. Great entrepreneurs have the ability to change the way we live and work. And if successful, their innovations may improve standards of living, create wealth, jobs and contribute to economic growth and development.

But entrepreneurship is more than just an engine of economic growth. It is also a factor that makes communities more vibrant, inclusive, and secure.

What we must ask ourselves, is how do we sustainably produce and develop entrepreneurs and innovators?

I believe that the process begins at home. Where parents encourage their kids to be curious, develop their technical skills and introduce them to various ideologies. It continues in schools where teachers must motivate, inspire, encourage critical thinking, challenge problem solving skills and develop their strong areas.

The magnitude of what Global Entrepreneurship Week has to be capitalized adequately for the improvements in the lives and livelihoods of Trinidad and Tobago’s people, and it’s about the ongoing reforms that will lead to more transparent, more accountable, and more responsive governance for all of Trinidad and Tobago’s citizens.