BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE Annual Residential Summer Camp hosted by the Ministry of Youth Empowerment will have over two hundred campers this summer ‘minding their business’ and garnering skills that would help them in the long run.
At the Opening Ceremony held yesterday, July 16, at the Beach Allen Primary School where the camp is located, Director of Youth, Jeffery Hanley said that the camp will be held in honour of Renee and Ian Naismith and will be held under the theme ‘Minding our Business - Taking charge of our Future’.
“The theme is extremely fitting and its goal is to enhance entrepreneurial spirit among our youth, today, we’re extremely grateful to have the Development Bank of St. Kitts and Nevis, who when other institutions were unable to give $300, they jumped on board to give a donation to this year’s camp in the sum of EC$15,000.
“We are grateful – this is aimed at ensuring that our campers are exposed to the necessary skills, they would require in starting up their own business
“Two hundred and fifty of you would be exposed to these skills and at the end of the camp we will be able to showcase our small businesses that we would have developed here. Again I say sincere thanks to the Development Bank of St. Kitts and Nevis,” Hanley said.
Hanley added that the camp would not only be two weeks of fun, but two weeks of skills learning that will develop them into persons of whom the community and nation would be proud.
Remarks were also given by Taiwan Ambassador Miguel Tsao, who said that this was the third time a delegation of youth ambassadors from Taiwan were a part of the summer camp.
He encouraged the campers to take advantage of the opportunity to learn new skills.
Representative from the St. Kitts-Nevis Development Bank, David Fox, also gave remarks and said that their student loan programme offers assistance to students who venture into various careers but hardly into entrepreneurship.
“I’m happy that this camp is going to develop and teach you things about entrepreneurship. Make sure you are proactive; don’t sit back and wait,” he said. “If you know something is to be done, take charge and do it. Entrepreneurs are persons who are proactive and put first things first; always begin with the end (of the project) in mind.”
Minister of Youth Empowerment and Sports said that the Ministry was proud of how far the camp had come noting that they were giving young persons a place to network and gain new skills where they would one day become lawyers, teachers and even ambassadors.
He said the themes over the years have been timely and this year is no exception.
“The themes have been relevant issues, affecting young people. At a time where youth unemployment level has spiked globally and where the global economic crisis continues to worsen, the theme helps reflect such – ‘Minding your own business’.
“We realize there is a need to promote youth entrepreneurship and at the end of the camp we can boast of 250 young people having been exposed to entrepreneurship training and can open their own businesses,” he said.
He said they were also grateful to have the six students from the University of Taipei who will be teaching the new campers various skills.
The camp began on July 15 and will end July 29.
