ROADTOWN Tortola BVI. January 20th, 2012  --  With the protocol already established, I say a pleasant good day to all gathered here this afternoon and those that will tune in on radio and television to the rebroadcast of this press conference to launch the initiatives around the Youth Unemployment Register.

I am very excited to see a cross section of the Virgin Islands business community here with us, from our skilled tradesmen, managers from the legal, banking, hospitality, marketing and consumer goods sectors, as well as a representative from the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force. Thank you all for joining us.

On November 9th, I willingly accepted the mandate the people of the Virgin Islands bestowed upon me as the Minister responsible for Education & Culture, which encompasses youth affairs. Leading up to that day, I had years of sitting on the block and in informal gatherings with the young people of the Virgin Islands where I had an opportunity to listen to their ideas, steer a few into a positive direction and in general, listen to the voice of the young Virgin Islander. What I heard always, was a willingness to succeed, a desire to do well and become empowered, at home in the Virgin Islands.

That time spent with our young people also informed me that we have a substantial amount of those youth that are unemployed. On December 1, 2011 through the Department of Youth Affairs, we launched the Youth Unemployment Register. To date we have registered just under 490 young persons between the ages of 16 – 30. Today we have a few of those young persons with us.

Within the register we find that we have young people at varying levels with a variety of skills. Over the course of next week facilitators will impress the importance of positive attitudes in the workplace, develop personality profiles for registrants to help them identify the best job and career options, workplace communication skills, customer service and job culture. We have deliberately taken the time to design this training so that we can effectively improve the skills of our registrants before releasing them to perspective employers throughout our business community.

Many have asked what is the need for such a programme? The reality is that if at some point we do not put a programme in place to help our young people find opportunities to learn skills for employment and advance themselves, our wider society pays a much greater cost via our social and welfare services, our legal system, and of course, it substantially impacts our labour offerings to the business community and Government.

It is important for all of us to remember that this initiative has both short and long term benefits. Immediately we will be seeking to find opportunities for our young people. We must realise that those opportunities may come in the form of jobs, it might mean receiving training, support for entrepreneurial ventures or steering our young people towards higher education.

The second benefit of this initiative is one that is even more critical. What we will be learning from the registered young people, are the areas in our education system that needs special attention to raise our standards and ultimately produce a higher quality of young adult, ready to join the Virgin Islands workforce and be apart of this Territory’s development in a number of ways. The information we will learn will be used to guide new education polices, our curriculum reform and even policies surrounding employment and labour in the Territory.

To our young people I will say to you, please seize this opportunity as if it was your last. On each day of that training, I want you to not just show up, but to be early, wide eyed and ready to receive the knowledge to help better your circumstances. To those that will find employment, be as eager to learn and be apart of that organisation on day one, day two, month one, month two, year one and year two.

I thank business owners that offered assistance since the launch of the register, but let me also once again, put out an appeal to the private sector. Next week we will do the job of helping to improve the skills of our youth and while we do this, I ask you to look at your organisation and consider opportunities where a young person, who is ready to be trained, can be added to your team.

I want to remind businesses that you do not just use the Virgin Islands to build personal or organisational prospects. Any business operating in these islands also has an obligation to this community to train our people and provide our citizens, our young people the opportunity to gain knowledge and to advance.

I am a business owner; I know the difficulties of hiring persons who might not have the right skills. But I also know the benefits my company has realised when my managers and I have been patient; molding young people to meet the standards of the organisation.

As corporate citizens, we all have a responsibility to the Virgin Islands, and I seek your willingness to help our young people. Some will make a few mistakes along the way, but I dare say it might be easier to train and employ the youth than pay for a society ripe with unemployment and hopelessness.

If you are a business owner, a human resources manager, an entrepreneur on the verge of expanding your business, I ask you to recall the moment in your young adult lives where you were given the opportunity to realise your true potential. Mr Tony Alphonso, I want you to think about that young man who had the chance to tinker with vehicles and today is the general manager of Alphonso’s Garage and Car Rental.

To any of our perspective employers, consider who gave you the chance to earn your first $10 and how that made you feel to be independent and ultimately fueled your desire to further your professional aspirations. And I am sure the same can be said for many of our managers and business owners that are joined with us today. I encourage you to pay it forward for the next generation just as someone did for you and me.

Once again, I thank you all for taking the time to be with us today, and I look forward to the success of this initiative. Thank you.

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