Basseterre, St. Kitts, November 25, 2015: Six students from the Barbados Community College gained insight into the growing entrepreneurship culture in St. Kitts and Nevis having participated in several activities for Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) SKN.
The young people representing two groups “Spiralescent and Celestial Glow,” and their chaperone, along with two representatives of the UNDP, arrived on Thursday (November 19)and participated in “NexConnect” – the following night. The Sugar Bay Club was the venue for the social event designed to facilitate conversation and to highlight possible areas for
collaboration.
“The social went really well,” said student Daneisha Pile of the group Spiralescent, noting that an introductory exercise opened her eyes to a number of realities. “I found out about different things that people did such as engineering and designing … things I probably would not have known if the activity did not come about so I think that learning from other people and people learning from us was very insightful.”
Saturday (November 21) brought even more “Exposure” as a creative arts and business expo allowed them to meet even more Kittitian and Nevisian entrepreneurs and interact with local consumers. Spiralescent featured their energy efficient residential product called the Penta Lamp which can serve as a standing or desk lamp. Celestial Glow is also the name of portable, rechargeable lamp developed by two students from the college. One of them, Tameshia Gooding, said persons visiting the expo were impressed with their product and she praised the organizers of the GEW activities. “It was a nine out of 10,” Gooding stated. “Getting to see how people work with entrepreneurship in St. Kitts and Nevis was a very interesting experience.”
The groups’ participation was a reward for participating in the UNDP/SIDS DOCK “Caribbean Energy Efficiency Lighting Competition. Celestial Glow was adjudged the winner while Spiralescent captured the runner up spot.
The groups returned to Barbados on Sunday (November 22). GEW St. Kitts-Nevis co-host Ervin Welsh said he was pleased to welcome the Bajan students.
“Our main aims for GEW St. Kitts and Nevis include creating an enabling environment for connections to be made, to facilitate the exchange of knowledge and to foster these connections from which relationships and subsequent partnerships can result. Having the students sharing in the week with us was a prime opportunity to do just that within and beyond
our borders,” Welsh said.
Global Entrepreneurship Week ran from November 16 to 22. The students’ visit and participation was organized by Marcia Brandon of the Caribbean Center of Excellence for Sustainable Livelihoods, Host of Global Entrepreneurship Week St. Kitts and Nevis and founder of GEN Caribbean