CIC prepares nation’s students for business management

By VonDez Phipps
Reporter-SKNVibes.com

Mark Wilkin

During the JA Awards Ceremony held yesterday (Oct. 29), President of the CIC Mark Wilkin worded the hopes of the organisation to work closely with the students, teachers and business partners who were all gathered at the Sir Cecil Jacobs Auditorium ECCB.

Wilkin congratulated all participating schools and noted that the experience was to be educational and challenging and was expected to stimulate students to be turned on to the idea of getting their own businesses. 

He added that the continued success of the JA Programme in St. Kitts-Nevis is of particular interest to the CIC, as it wants to see people of all ages, classes and genders succeed in business.

He underscored that the organisation realises that the business community has a major role in ensuring that the Federation is a preferred place where people want to establish businesses. He said the Chamber wants a St. Kitts-Nevis that encourages people to be enterprising while achieving the goals of business growth and development so that the country on a whole could benefit.

“The Chamber of Industry and Commerce also believes that the best time to develop a business mindset is when we are young so that we can start early business careers and become independent entrepreneurs over time. That is why the JA Programme is so important to us although, in the Caribbean, we are not automatically raised in an entrepreneurial, enterprising environment. ~~Adz:Right~~

“With our sugar industry era now behind us, many of our citizens here in St. Kitts and Nevis, and the wider Caribbean for that matter, have an ideal opportunity to follow the paths of self-determination through business ownership. For this reason, the ECCB’s introduction of the JA Programme in the Federation three years ago could not be timelier. The basic business principles and practices to which JA espouses our students are firm building blocks toward the paths of entrepreneurship over the long term.”

President Wilkin indicated that the Chamber is confident in the presence of JA Programmes in the primary and secondary schools, as they give students a serious career alternative as a business person rather than having the typical goal of finding oneself a job after leaving school.

He informed that the Chamber assumed the responsibility for the coordination of the administration of the JA Programme in the Federation early in 2008 and has had interest in establishing the programme over eight years ago. Wilkin reassured teachers, students and parents that the CIC’s intention is to “sustain the level of prominence and commitment that the ECCB has given to the JA over the years”.

Wilkin further stated that the CIC has explored ways of improving the programme in areas such as funding and mentoring from among its 145-plus business membership base. He also informed that many CIC present and past directors have already committed to the mentoring and adoption of high schools in the Federation. 

The President of the CIC underscored, “We look forward to the longevity of the JA Programme in St. Kitts-Nevis as a means of creating critical building blocks in our transformation into our services-driven economy spurred on by a thriving entrepreneurial culture among our young people.”