The Caribbean - A Hub For Entrepreneurship?

branson centre for entrepreneurship
Author

Jenson Sylvester

Release Date

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

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It is not often that Jamaica and the Caribbean makes global news as it relates to entrepreneurship. Even more rare, is foreign direct investment by global companies that see sufficient potential and talent in the entrepreneurial space.

This is why it is worthy to note, that earlier this month, Sir Richard Branson made a 10-year monetary commitment to support young business people in Jamaica. He launched the Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship - Caribbean, in Montego Bay, Jamaica on Thursday September 11, 2011. This facility is the first of its kind in the region and will be run by Virgin Holidays and Virgin Unite, the non-profit foundation of the Virgin Group. This initiative provides aspiring entrepreneurs in the Caribbean region with a launch pad for their businesses.

Fourteen young entrepreneurs have been selected to start the programme. They were selected from hundreds of applicants who endured an 'Apprentice' TV programme style elimination process. These youngsters will reap the benefits of coaching and mentoring sessions with successful global entrepreneurs like Chris Blackwell. By setting up this centre, the Virgin Unite and Virgin Holidays partnership aims to stimulate the economy and create jobs in Jamaica and the region. Unemployment hit an eight year high of 12.9 percent earlier this year which is why this initiative is particularly good news and will be welcomed by the Jamaican government.

At the opening, Branson gave some prudent advice "Nineteen out of twenty new businesses fail, so by mentoring people here in the Caribbean or in Africa, we can make sure that hopefully 10 out of 20 succeed and help give people a leg up." He also added that "Almost every single big company in the world started with an entrepreneur just like these guys today, with one little idea, and the world desperately needs more jobs to be created, more entrepreneurs to give people some respect."

Jamaica has continued to be blighted by bad news by the press in the USA and the UK. Last year for example, those of us abroad were haunted by images of burning buildings and scenes of all out warfare in the Tivoli Gardens community in Kingston. Headlines like 'Jamaica declares state of emergency' and 'Organised crime in Jamaica - Drug lord in cahoots with the Government?' made those of us connected to the region grimace. During the unrest in Tivoli, we were bombarded by terrible scenes that made our beloved nation look like a war zone. We have battled with sensationalised media reports about the Caribbean for decades. It is therefore heart warming that we have some positive news about the Caribbean that isn't just about coconut trees and beaches.

With all of this in mind, how is it then that a seasoned billionaire like Sir Richard Branson sees Jamaica and the Caribbean as a hub for growth? With the global economy in constant stagnation at best, developing nations are quickly becoming the focus for economic growth. Brazil and Mexico for example are increasingly on the radar for top GDP growth as the developed world's economies falter. In the Caribbean, we have been forced to innovate and find opportunities in economies with low or zero growth. For years Jamaicans have been known through-out the region as serial micro-entrepreneurs. So the fact that Richard Branson (a serial entrepreneur himself) sees enough opportunity to invest in the region should be a wake-up call to other investors who are struggling to see growth in the developed world.

Maybe this therefore isn't such a charitable move by the Branson Group, maybe this is a strategic move to build credibility in the region as an advocate for regional development and reap the financial rewards of any growth that we see in the region in years to come. Also let's think about the development of the Virgin Atlantic and Holiday brands; the short term benefits of establishing a business centre in Montego Bay (a top tourist destination) can only have positive effects for Virgin's airline and tourist businesses.

Maybe it is therefore that we are missing an opportunity ourselves to focus on entrepreneurship; as a region we suffer from following new trends and innovation in the developed world (particularly the USA) way too much. Whilst it is clear that global involvement and participation is important, I close by asking the question:

Can we as a nation and region build on the work being done here and establish ourselves as a centre for entrepreneurship?

References -ÔøΩhttp://www.virginunite.com/campaign/UK/Branson-Centre-of-Entrepreneurship/

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