Caribbean Youth Entrepreneurship Summit 2015 to be held in Barbados

Regional policymakers, young entrepreneurs, and other major stakeholders, will meet in Barbados on Thursday 24th September, 2015 during the Caribbean Youth Entrepreneurship Summit, to chart a future for youth entrepreneurship in the Caribbean region.

The Caribbean Youth Entrepreneurship Summit is a new platform for entrepreneurs and policy makers, to collectively build a better future for entrepreneurship development in the Caribbean.It will also provide a golden opportunity to engage governments, regional stakeholders and other institutions in an examination of our entrepreneurial ecosystem, with a view to further strengthening the impact of entrepreneurship as a driver of economic growth in the region.

The Summit will be formally opened by the Stephen Lashley, the Barbados Minister of Culture, Sport and Youth and opening remarks will be delivered by Ambassador Larry L. Palmer, U.S. Ambassador, Barbados and Eastern Caribbean.

Trinidad & Tobago entrepreneur, Tameika Fletcher-Birmingham shall deliver the keynote address. Other speakers include David Clarke, Chairman of the Barbados Youth Business Trust and representatives from the University of the West Indies; the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the Caribbean Development Bank and Youth Business International.

The Caribbean Youth Entrepreneurship Summit will be co-hosted by a number of agencies that support young entrepreneurs from Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, St. Lucia and Dominica along with diaspora-based network organization Youth Business International, who have reinforced their commitment towards the continued development of youth entrepreneurship. During the past 3 years, these organizations have been working collaboratively to deliver the Youth Entrepreneurship Program for the Eastern Caribbean (YEPEC).

The YEPEC involved the delivery of high quality training, mentoring and network support to help young people to establish sustainable businesses, as well as capacity-building of the institutions involved in the provision of this support.