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| Some of the workshop participants pose for a group picture with the facilitators. Mr Pearlievan Wilkin is standing extreme left and next to him is Mr Augustine Merchant. Mr Stephen Jones is standing 3rd right and next to him are Ms Jacqueline Brookes and Mr Edred Ward. | |
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Charlestown Nevis (April 29, 2004) -- Fourteen management staff of cooperative societies and individual entrepreneurs on Nevis attended a two-day workshop on Entrepreneurship and Record Keeping, Wednesday and Thursday, which was held at the Ingle Blackett’s Conference Room of the Nevis Cooperative Credit Union.
The workshop was organised by the Department of Cooperatives in the Ministry of Agriculture, Lands, Housing, Cooperatives and Fisheries; facilitated by the Small Enterprise Development Unit (SEDU) of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, and funded by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation and Agriculture (IICA).
The Assistant Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Lands, Housing, Cooperatives and Fisheries, Mr Stephen Jones, while delivering welcome remarks at the workshop’s opening ceremony on Wednesday noted that his ministry was quite pleased to be associated with the workshop.
“I would like to commend the organisers of this workshop, the Director of Cooperatives and his staff for ensuring that the proceedings have reached to this stage and I am certain that they will ensure that the next two days will be rewarding for all concerned stakeholders,” remarked Mr Jones.
He singled out IICA for the continued work and sponsorship, which that institution has invested in the ministry and its various departments, and most importantly Nevis’ young entrepreneurs, who stand to benefit greatly from the two-day workshop.
“Let me therefore highly commend IICA through the local representative (Mr Augustine Merchant who was present), and give the assurance that the Ministry of Agriculture, Lands, Housing, Cooperatives and Fisheries is committed to continue the collaborative work which will redound to the benefit of all parties,” said the Assistant Secretary.
Opening remarks at the opening ceremony were made by the Director of Cooperatives Mr Pearlievan Wilkin, while Mr Edred Ward, a Senior Cooperatives Officer in the Nevis Island Administration opened workshop with words of invocation.
IICA’s co-ordinator for St. Kitts and Nevis, Mr Augustine Merchant, emphasised to the participants of the importance of the workshop, advising them that it would help them to improve the efficiency of their businesses, so that they could become more competitive.
“In this new era of globalisation and trade liberalisation, we all have to embrace a new paradigm,” advised Mr Merchant. “No longer could we continue to operate as per usual. We have to adopt proper business practices and principles otherwise, we will find that our ambitious enterprises would soon become a good idea of the past.”
He described cooperative societies as important pillars of the island’s development. He pointed out that if the people in Nevis were to maximise the benefits accrued from the societies it was then vitally important that the membership was trained so that they could be at the cutting edge.
“The Nevis Cooperative Credit Union (NCCU) is a classic case of what our people are capable of,” noted the IICA coordinator. “I do hope that the other societies and associations could emulate the NCCU so that they could contribute more to national development and make Nevis a better place.”
Workshop facilitator, Ms Jacqueline Brookes, who is the Business Development/Consumer Affairs Officer in the Ministry of Trade and Industry, and who heads SEDU-Nevis, said that the main objective of the workshop was to give the participants an idea of what record keeping was all about, what types of records should be kept by an entrepreneur and what entrepreneurship was all about.
“We are also going to look at financing of business, cash statements, income and expenditure statements and marketing,” explained Ms Brookes. “They would be given hand-on activities using computers, so that they can see how they can use the computer in their businesses. By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to manage their organisations better.”
