Agriculture Minister Tours 2017 Cooperative Youth Entrepreneur Summer Programme

Bahamas, July 24, 2017 – Nassau – Minister of Agriculture & Marine Resources, the Hon. Renward Wells toured the 2017 Cooperative Youth Entrepreneur Summer Programme, an initiative of the Ministry’s “Youth Embracing Excellence Successfully,” also known as the (YEES) Project, which was held at C.I. Gibson School, Marathon Road. The summer programme has been an ongoing initiative in the Ministry, since 2015, and has proven itself to be popular and successful, after it was rebranded from just being referred to as “School Co-ops.”

Minister Wells embraced the opportunity to meet the 35 teenagers, now eager to start their own businesses, and learn more about the micro-economic impact of local souvenir making. He understood that these students have been developing these emerging cottage industries, since they started in 2015 when the program had only 19 participants.

The Ministry’s Department of Cooperatives, spearheaded by its Director, Dr. Judy Simmons, has familiarized the Ministry with the importance of developing youth entrepreneurial initiatives, sponsored by the Ministry, to encourage young people leaving school to create jobs for themselves and help others create their own jobs to be their own bosses.