The second staging of the Governor General’s annual series of I Believe Youth Consultative Conferences will be held this month with an emphasis on youth entrepreneurship. The first of three conferences took place on October 11 at the Whispering Bamboo Cove Resorts in Morant Bay, for the county of Surrey. On October 18, youth delegates will meet at “The Veranda”, Toll Gate, Clarendon, for the county of Middlesex. The third conference, for the county of Cornwall, will be held on October 25, at the Montego Bay Convention Centre. Each conference begins at 10.00am and ends at 3.00pm.
The structure of the conferences will include a presentation by a motivational speaker, followed by break-out sessions on career choices, which will include the non-traditional areas of economic activity. For participants who are either already in the job-search phase or about to graduate, the entrepreneurship sessions will socialize them into thinking “job creation” as against job search, bearing in mind the limitations in our current job market. Presenters in the entrepreneurial category will be young entrepreneurs who are engaged in IT, the field of animations and in various small businesses. Experts from the Jamaica Business Development Corporation (JBDC), University of Technology (UTECH), and financial advisers from Scotiabank and JNBS will also make presentations. Fifty delegates drawn from the parishes of the respective county will attend each conference.
The conferences will have the added feature of designating “I Believe Ambassadors” as mentors for those young persons who will choose or have chosen to set up their own businesses. They will also seek to promote networking among those individuals interested in various fields where they can be linked up for employment with external partners, especially in the information and communications technology sector.
The conferences will open with remarks by the Governor General and will feature an address by a Cabinet Minister or Minister of State who will respond to reports presented by the delegates during the closing session.