Cabinet Secretary Dr Marcus Natta Updates NIA Cabinet on The Federal Government’s Innovative Aspire Programme

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts (SKNIS) – Secretary to the Federal Cabinet, Dr Marcus L. Natta, journeyed to the sister island of Nevis today, September 25, 2024, to make a critical presentation to the Cabinet of the Nevis Island Administration (NIA) on the groundbreaking ASPIRE (Achieving Success through Personal Investment, Resources, and Education) programme, reinforcing the government’s goal of ensuring all children in the Federation benefit from this new financial education, savings, and investment initiative.

The ASPIRE programme is designed to equip the nation’s youth with the tools, knowledge, and opportunities to build a bright financial future by fostering financial literacy and economic empowerment.

In addition to updating the NIA Cabinet members on the programme, Dr. Natta said Wednesday’s presentation allowed for the leaders on Nevis to give their feedback on this first-of-its-kind initiative.

“We were able to get a lot of feedback that I can now take back to our ASPIRE Task Force and try to make the programme even better, and so we look forward to rolling out the programme fully in the coming months,” said Dr Natta.

He commended the NIA Cabinet for their attention and interaction during the presentation, noting that it demonstrated their enthusiasm in seeing the ASPIRE programme.

“The Cabinet members were quite engaged during the presentation and thereafter during the question and answer segment that we held, and the feedback has been very positive from the Premier and his fellow Cabinet members. They have assured me that they will do their best to promote the programme. They are now armed with a lot more information about the ASPIRE programme, and we look forward to working collaboratively to ensure that our young people get that financial literacy education and empowerment that they deserve,” Dr Natta said.

As part of the ASPIRE programme, youth aged 5-18, including nationals and citizens by descent, will receive a EC$1,000 contribution from the government. This contribution will be divided into two parts: EC$500 to be held in a savings account at the St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla National Bank and EC$500 to be invested in shares of local, government-owned entities.

For additional information on the ASPIRE programme, persons are asked to visit aspire.gov.kn.