E-Team plans entrepreneur hub

BARBADOS will generate more capital per head than any country in the world by 2020 if a group of businesspeople are successful.It will be recognised as a premier source of business talent and be a hub for entrepreneurs, offering the highest levels of business support and networking.This vision was revealed by Damian McKinney, founder and chief executive officer of McKinney Rogers International, during the Barbados International Business Association’s (BIBA) monthly luncheon.Speaking at Hilton Barbados on Tuesday, McKinney outlined the plans of the E-Team, a group of ten entrepreneurs based in Barbados  and the United Kingdom, to make Barbados the number one entrepreneurial hub in the world in ten years.One element of the E-Team project is an awards programme which will recognise those who represent excellence in the “foundation pillars” of finance, government policy, education and skills, mentorship and business facilitation.The awards will begin next year and will include an overall Entrepreneur Of The Year as well as awards in several specific categories. McKinney said entrepreneurs were people who organised a business venture and assumed the risk for it while those in the business of buying and selling were traders.“An innovator of a business enterprise recognises opportunities to introduce new products, new processes and improve organisation. They see something in the future and they innovate and create, and as a result they then put in place . . . all the things that [are needed] to seize that opportunity. Great entrepreneurs create wealth and prosperity for others, he said. (NB)