Commonwealth micro-credit scheme boosts youth enterprise
Guyana Chronicle
August 1, 2004
THE Commonwealth Youth Programme (CYP) Caribbean Centre has presented cheques totalling G$781,000 (US$3,847) to ten young Guyanese entrepreneurs to start or enhance existing businesses under the Commonwealth Youth Credit Initiative (CYCI). CYCI is a micro-credit and enterprise training scheme.
The presentations followed a graduation ceremony on June 29, after a period of extensive training, at the St. Francis Community Developers complex at Rosehall, Corentyne, Berbice. Hazel Ross-Benn, Project Officer for the CYCI, provided training and mentoring.
The regional CYCI programme is funded by CYP Caribbean Centre, and managed under an agreement signed with the Globe Trust and Investment Company in December 2003.
CYCI addresses the problem of youth unemployment and poverty in the Commonwealth, by providing micro-credit, enterprise training and mentorship to young people so that they can establish their own sustainable businesses and achieve financial self-sufficiency. The CYCI model was initiated in India and its success has led to it being adapted for use in other Commonwealth countries.
As well as Guyana, CYCI in the Caribbean operates in Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Kamele Pestano, who received G$131,000 (US$645), said she will use the money to expand her cash crop project on the Corentyne. Ms. Pestano is currently planting cabbage, watermelons and other crops on a 20-acre plot of land.
"I am very happy to have received the training in the management of my business and consequently, I hope to become a better entrepreneur. This loan will definitely help me develop my farm," she said.
Ewart Stuart, who got a loan of G$59,000 (US$290), plans to purchase more chickens and equipment for his poultry project, which has been in operation for about a year on a plot of land owned by his parents.
"I thought that if I expanded my business, I would get a bigger profit, so I decided to pursue the CYCI, especially because of the training participants have to go through," he said.
Several other young entrepreneurs received loans ranging from G$20,000 (US$98) to G$126,000 (US$620) for animal husbandry and farming.
Dwynette Eversley, the CYP Caribbean Centre's Senior Programme Officer for Youth Enterprise Development, said training programmes to foster a culture of entrepreneurship among young people could help them to achieve success through hard work and dedication.
Other speakers at the event included Patricia Liverpool, Operations Manager of Globe Trust; Alex Foster, President of the St. Francis Community Developers, the facility which houses the training and development activities for the Caribbean Center's CYCI programme; and Jadoonauth Persaud of the National Bank of Industry and Commerce, which provides community support to young people.
"Loans are just the beginning of this new phase of your lives. Five of the young people in our community who benefited under the CYCI have gone on to commercial loans at local banks," Mr Foster told the young entrepreneurs, adding, "this programme teaches you to fish, so you can go out into the world and fish for yourselves." (COMMONWEALTH NEWS AND INFORMATION SERVICE)