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Minister of Small Business and Entrepreneurship Kerrie Symmonds says urgent action must be taken by Barbados and the rest of the Caribbean to “resurrect” commercial activity in the region.
And he has suggested a scientific approach to the process of rebuilding the micro, small and medium enterprise sectors, which had taken a hard hit with the “implosion” of regional economies due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Noting that micro, small and medium enterprises constituted 85 per cent of economic activity in Barbados, Symmonds said Governments would need to find alternative ways of funding such businesses, other than the traditional financial sources which often reacted negatively to funding requests because of their lack of confidence in the entrepreneur’s ability to manage a business.
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Niel Harper, a foreign-based Barbadian executive, is the 2021 recipient of the Technology for Humanity Award.
The globally recognised technology and cybersecurity expert was awarded by the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA) “for contributions to capacity building across the world towards the development of affordable, open and user-centric Internet infrastructure”.
“Niel is the first recipient of this new award, which is among our highest honours. This award recognises an individual whose efforts in connecting with underserved communities or underrepresented individuals has helped bridge the digital divide. We are inspired by his accomplishments, and we are thrilled to recognise his efforts,” remarked David Samuelson, CEO of ISACA.
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Searchlight Newspaper – The COVID-19 pandemic is triggering the largest economic downturn since the Great Depression of 1929 to 1939 and the Great Recession of 2007 to 2009.
But despite this, St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) has managed the economy well and could be described as an exemplar in the region.
This observation was made recently by Professor Justin Robinson, head of the Department of Economics at the University of the West Indies Cave Hill campus and Executive Director, Sagicor Cave Hill SchoolOf Business & Management.
Speaking on WE FM’s Issues at Hand program, Professor Robinson said financially, the countries in the region, except maybe Guyana, are all having economic issues, but outside of the oil producing countries, SVG is one the best performers economically and is currently getting through the pandemic with the least economic damage.
December 12, 2020
The stage is set for the first ever virtual Hackathon to be hosted by The University of the West Indies Cave Hill campus on Sunday, December 13.
The PowerBarbados 2020 Hackathon is organized by The UWI Cave Hill and Microsoft, and will be held at the Errol Barrow Centre for Creative Imagination from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
It will build on the PowerBarbados Workshop held last weekend, and will also aim to help participants create their Power Platform skills, enhance their resumé, as well as solve some of the real problems that organisations and governments face.
Network Engineer at UWI Cave Hill David Smith said participants have registered from across the Caribbean, with 95 per cent expected to be online via Microsoft Teams.