Glenn Phillip advises YES Programme graduates to apply for business loans

BASSETERRE ST. KITTS - Minister of Youth Empowerment and Sports, the Hon Glenn Phillip, has said that the Youth Empowerment through Skills (YES) Programme is encouraging students graduating from the programme and who want to start their own businesses to approach the Development Bank of Saint Kitts and Nevis for loans.
 
Minister Phillip who was speaking on Saturday (September 4) evening at the Royal St. Kitts Hotel and Casino (Jack Tar) at a cocktail reception hosted by 21 graduating students of hospitality and hotel trades class as part of their final practical demonstration observed that the programme has gone down very well in making the youth of the Federation productive and better citizens.
 
“I would like to encourage all the students who wish to become entrepreneurs, to start your own business because the YES Programme has a component which encourages students who want to start their own business, to use the Development Bank,” said the Minister.
 
He said that the bank was offering loans of up to $15,000 at low interest for any student who wishes to start their own business. He explained that the programme is not just for skills training, as it also helps the students to become businesspersons. He told them: “I encourage all our students or most of the students to take that amount because you are the future of our society.”
 
The cocktail reception which was hosted by the YES Programme’s hospitality and hotel trades class under the instruction of Michael Guishard, had the Prime Minister the Hon Dr Denzil Douglas as the chief guest and was also attended by the Minister of Education, the Hon Nigel Carty.
 
Minister Phillip, who said that the YES Programme was conceptualised by Prime Minister Denzil Douglas to help enhance the skills of the country’s young people, also revealed that it has an arrangement with the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela who have come on board to help the students by taking top students in the different disciplines to Venezuela in the future, to enhance their skills.
 
Manager at the YES Programme Secretariat, Mr Leslie Connor, reported that the programme had trained young persons in various disciplines, such as hospitality and hotel trades, business administration, building construction, industrial maintenance, agriculture, basic computer skills, on-line computer courses, mechanics, and welding among others. It also prepared some trainees for the recently held CXC examinations where some of them were successful.
 
He pointed out that over the past year an area of focus was certification, revealing that over 500 trainees were certified between June and August of this year. He also alluded to the fact that to date a number of persons have gained fulltime employment in the private and public sectors, and the secretariat has been in contact with persons in the hotel industry to get more opportunities for the YES Programme trainees.
 
“The YES Secretariat is also seeking to have an internship in the area of hospitality and hotel trades at one of the leading hotels here in St. Kitts,” noted Connor. “The programme also provides for the trainees interested in opening their own business to obtain a loan from the Development Bank of Saint Kitts and Nevis at low interest rates, as money is provided for that purpose.”
 
END