THE CCCU, in recognition of its 35th anniversary celebrations next year, launched the Churches Credit Union Entrepreneurs' Awards at the Jamaica Pegasus yesterday.
The awards are to be made to final year business students from the University of the West Indies, the University of Technology and Northern Caribbean University. The students will each receive seed capital of a quarter million dollars to start a small business enterprise.
General Manager, Basil Naar says the creation of the awards is an opportunity for the Credit Union to "refocus its thinking and go back to its roots." He says credit unions were originally set up to fund micro and medium businesses, but have strayed from the path.
"We must encourage people with entrepreneurial thoughts so that they can realise their dreams," Mr. Naar told his audience.
Businessman and Chairman of K.S. Chemicals in Kingston, Elon Beckford says the initiative will have a national impact because it creates hope for young people.
"Hope without action is wishful thinking and what the Churches Co-operative Credit Union is saying here is that it is taking it one step further," he says. He says access to credit is a necessity for the poor and is in fact a right.
BUILDING HOPE
"We talk about building hope. But that will never happen unless we understand that there are several aspects to this reality." He notes that investing in big projects is not a solution to the problem, but improving access to credit for young people in order to drive nation building.
The students will be judged based on criteria such as their academic standing and their desire to go into business after completing their studies. The students must have attained at least a 'B' average at the end of their second year of study.
They will also be required to prepare and submit a comprehensive business plan for a small business enterprise. The plan must be prepared on the basis of the total quarter million dollar prize. The plans are to be submitted by May 30 next year.
Businessman Elon Beckford will serve as a mentor for the awardees in order to help them implement at least the first phase of their business plan.
Incubator support will also be provided for the entrepreneurs to increase their chances of success.
Also at the launch function, Patricia Matheson, acting head of School of Business Administration at UTech and Dr. Anne Crick, head of Management Studies, at UWI hailed the programme as timely and pledged the support of their institutions to the initiative. For his part, Dr. Cecil Goodridge, interim dean of Business and Hospitality Management at NCU, lauded Churches Credit Union for recognising entrepreneurship as an activity that requires capital. He said Mr. Naar's visionary approach to entrepreneurship was in keeping with a plan by NCU to launch an Entrepreneurial Centre early next year.
