FOR THE PAST five months, ten teenagers have been gaining valuable work experience while also learning about how to run a successful business.
They are participantsin Republic Bank’s Youth Link apprenticeship programme which originally started more than 25 years ago in Trinidad and Tobago.
The 2012 programme, which started last November, was conducted in partnership with the Caribbean Centre of Excellence for Youth Entrepreneurship (CEYE) and the Barbados Youth Business Trust (BYBT).
Last Friday, the young people had the opportunity to offer their products and services to the public during the Youth Linkers’ Exhibition and Trade Show at the bank’s former Broad Street branch.
Although their primary target market was the bank’s staff, both locals and visitors patronized their displays, with baked goods, jewellery, clothing and natural soaps being snapped up rapidly.
Three of the Youth Linkers shared their experiences in the programme with the SUNDAY SUN.
For 19-year-old Dalia Scantlebury, it was the perfect opportunity to get some workplace experience after she finished secondary school.
“I said this would be a good start for me while I was going to [the University of the West Indies], so I applied to do it part-time. It has been a really good experience,” she said.
The young people were divided into two groups and Dalia’s colleagues formed Tenacity Marketing.
“At first, we were juggling ideas. We weren’t too sure but then in the end this really hit us. Initially, we were going to make the products ourselves but it was a bit difficult with the time constraints. We decided to market [established] small businesses,” she explained.
Dalia, who is studying management with a concentration in marketing, said she was now very interested in starting her own business.
“This is really good experience; it’s opening my eyes,” she said, noting that the number of patrons really surprised her.
Seventeen-year-old Lisa Banfield also described the experience as eye-opening since she learnt a lot about customer service and working with others.
“The bank is actually more than I thought it was. There’s a certain prestige with working in the bank and I really see why people rate bank workers so highly in society,” she said.
Lisa, who also plans to start her own business, said she found out that entrepreneurship was more challenging than she thought.
She learnt the importance of proper record keeping.
“If you have no documents, you can actually go bankrupt without knowing because if you don’t document your finances, you don’t know what you sold, you don’t know if you made a profit or a loss. You really need to make sure that you document everything,” said the former student of The St Michael School.
Meanwhile, Erin Hazelwood, 19, relished the opportunity to get familiar with a new industry.
“I’m a musician, I play trumpet, but to have that opportunity to work in a business in a field that I really am not knowledgeable about, I said I really would love to try this.”
She learnt the importance of good customer service.
“To have really good customer service, to really talk to customers and to have a really good work ethic . . . I’ve found to be really important in this business,” she said.
Like Dalia and Lisa, Erin fell in love with entrepreneurship and wants to start her own jewellery making business.
“I’m really interested in the coral jewellery. I love to do it and I think if you just love what you do, then you should go with it.”
The former student of the Foundatiion School lauded the training provided by BYBT and the opportunity to hear first-hand accounts from young entrepreneurs.
Programme coordinator Michelle Harding said Youth Link was aimed at providing school leavers between the ages of 16 and 19 with the skills necessary to make the transition from student to employee.
“We want them to be rounded, so we also show them what it is you need to do if you are thinking of owning a business,” she said.
Regional director of CEYE, Marcia Brandon, said the young people were provided with two business mentors.
“For us, it is extremely important that the young people are actually learning the processes involved in starting and running a business more than making big money,” she said.
Brandon said the focus was on promoting the mindset, behaviours and the processes, procedures and structures which must be set up to run a business.
