Minister of Youth, Sports and Community Empowerment, the Hon. Charles Griffith, in discussion with one of the entrepreneurs at the event.

The Emerging Entrepreneurs Mall at Broad Street, Bridgetown has been lauded as a fantastic initiative that should be replicated quarterly across Barbados.

These sentiments from Minister of Youth, Sports and Community Empowerment, the Honourable Charles Griffith following a tour of the mall this weekend. Minister Griffith believes that Broad Street could be closed off every three months to allow the entrepreneurs to showcase their products and skills set. The Youth Minister lauded the quality of products on display as outstanding, noting that he saw “a hat at one of the stalls that should be at Kensington because it depicts the whole World Cup in terms of cricket”.

He suggested that the Emerging Entrepreneurs Mall could be housed at Kensington Oval during the remainder of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. He added: “In this way the entrepreneurs will be able to showcase their products and services more during match days and attract more sales".

Sweet treats, jewellery, perfumes, beverages, condiments and body products are among the array of products on display by the entrepreneurs at the Broad Street Mall. Patrons were also able to get up close and personal with several business people on Broad Street. “I have visited about ten of the entrepreneurs stalls so far and every single one indicated that this is a really great initiative for them in terms of the exposure, given that they usually run their businesses on line or from at home,” Minister Griffith remarked.

Minister Griffith said 'Broad Street provides an exposure for the entrepreneurs that they could not pay for' and he congratulated the organisers including the Youth Entrepreneurship Scheme. He noted that this government initiative provided the opportunity for young people to explore self-employment, whilst empowering themselves and contributing to the growth of the economy. Manager of the Youth Entrepreneurship Scheme, Ryan Moseley, stated that replicating the model of the Broad Street Mall at Bridgetown Market was a viable option that YES will explore, after trial runs at Kiddies Kadooment and Pandemonium last year.

General Manger of the Barbados Trust Fund Ltd, Gerald Amos, says they have received interests from the diaspora who want to event replicated overseas. “That is very encouraging for us as entrepreneurs because you can see that things are happening - we want to continue to encourage persons to do manufacturing, to put some effort into what they are doing, be creative, be innovative and use indigenous things we have to come up with nice products...we know we can take this far and we intend to take it far as we can with the help of government,” Mr Amos declared.

The Emerging Entrepreneurs Broad Street Mall aims at creating networking opportunities for small business owners, whilst fostering economic growth and development, within the local business community.