Laborie residents got the opportunity last Saturday (June 4) to sign up for the “Incubator & Business Coaching Programme” which is a component of the Upskilling Academy Jennès Programme.
Held in the Laborie Credit Union Cultural Hall, the activity was a collaboration among the Taiwanese Embassy, the Government of Saint Lucia, Laborie community, and Sir Arthur Lewis Community College (SALCC), meant to give people from the south a chance to participate in the business incubator.
The business incubator programme, one component of the Jennès programme, will facilitate young entrepreneurs who have already started their business, through business coaching module, and provide start-ups with mentoring and coaching that will help them grow profitable business.
Taiwan’s Ambassador to Saint Lucia, H.E. Peter Chen, attended the event, where he thanked Hon. Alva R. Baptiste, Minister for External Affairs, International Trade, Civil Aviation and International Affairs, for his continued support of the technical cooperation and projects between Taiwan and Saint Lucia.
Ambassador Chen also encouraged the youth and women present to take advantage of the opportunities being offered under the Jennès programme.
“I encourage all Saint Lucian youth and women to grab this opportunity and accelerate,” he said. “In addition to the incubator programme, we are also providing vocational skills training programmes to prepare youth and women with the expertise needed in the workforce.”
Ambassador Chen also announced that another vocational skills training programme will be offered to 70 graduates from secondary schools across the island.
“When we invest in young people, we invest in our future,” Ambassador Chen said. “There are lots of ideas, especially from the South, that have not been discovered. The Governments of Taiwan and Saint Lucia will continuously work together to help young and female aspiring entrepreneurs realize their dreams and aspirations.”
Hon. Alva R. Baptiste, Member of Parliament for Laborie, who also attended the event, said Taiwan is a good friend of Saint Lucia, and thanked Taiwan for its continued support of Saint Lucia. Like Ambassador Chen, he, too, appealed to residents to capitalize on the programmes being offered by the Government of Taiwan.
“Today I want to appeal to the young people of Laborie/Augier that it is our opportunity to access funds, to access education, (and) to access skills, so that we can take our position beside others,” Hon. Baptiste said. “Not just in the constituency of Laborie/Augier, not just in Saint Lucia, not just in the OECS and the Caribbean, but the entire world, because we are in the information age and it is on the wings of education that we are going to move to a new altitude.”
Highlights of the day included screening of videos, distribution of flyers, and sign-ups for the business incubator. The deadline for registration is 10th June and can be registered on the website: https://upskilling.salcc.edu.lc/index.php
The main aim of the Jennès programme is to give youths and women across the island an opportunity to upskill their talents and gain meaningful employment, especially in the post-COVID-19 period. This fits into Youth Economy initiative to facilitate people turning hobbies into entrepreneurship and skills into business.
The Government of the Republic of China (Taiwan) will continue to work with the Government of Saint Lucia to build capacity of young and female aspiring entrepreneurs, invest in human resources and boost local economy. By integrating technical assistance and financial services, both Taiwan and Saint Lucia will become stronger together.