By Robert A Emmanuel
Prime Minister Gaston Browne has called for an entrepreneurial programme to be established at the Antigua and Barbuda Institute of Continuing Education (ABICE) – and said he would be willing to give financial support to students enrolled in it.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the Harrison Centre yesterday, Browne said that he is hoping the faculty will open more programmes at the institute, including entrepreneurship.
“And what we will do, we will link it [the entrepreneurial programme] to the Prime Minister’s EDP, that is the Enterprise Development Fund, so that those individuals that have good ideas and have the discipline to run a business, will get the funding.
“In fact, I will undertake to be an angel investor to provide whatever funding I can to assist individuals with good ideas,” the Prime Minister said.
Browne claimed that he would be open to providing his experience and knowledge to those enrolled, saying “there will be many others that will follow to support that programme”.
He added that more trained entrepreneurs would help to expand businesses, increase trade, provide opportunities for employment, and grow the economy.
Meanwhile, as part of his speech, the Prime Minister revealed that the government was in conversation with a number of unnamed European and American schools to “assist us in running programmes or to have joint degree programmes”.
According to the Harrison Foundation, the Harrison Centre will be a “model facility for technical and vocational training that will nurture the development of critical skills in Antigua and Barbuda at world class standards”.
The Prime Minister said that the goal for his administration is to train “a highly skilled cadre of workers” in a bid to reduce the burden on the government to import workers.
He noted the projects that will occur in Barbuda, stating that outside of the PLH (Peace, Love and Happiness) project and the development by Robert DeNiro, there will be an unnamed project, whose memorandum of understanding will be signed at the end of November.
He also spoke of the luxury resort project being pursued by the United Arab Emirates at the former Half Moon Bay Resort for $100 million.
