Katalyxt’s hosts second Youth Innovators sensitization workshop
KATALYXT CONTINUED its training by hosting the second sensitization workshop for the Katalyxt 2017-18 Youth Innovators Competition (YIC) at the Ministry of Education’s Regional Office in Brown’s Town, St Ann, on February 22, under the theme ‘Planting the Seed of Entrepreneurship in Fertile Soil’.
The drive to the Ministry of Education’s office in Region 3 took the Katalyxt team one hour and 45 minutes from Kingston, along the North Coast Highway, before existing at Runaway Bay, then taking a left turn along the winding, pothole-filled stretch to Brown’s Town.
As we entered the gates of the office, we felt the excitement as teams were arriving and the students had the sense of something special about to happen; their expectations were realized. Approximately 40 students and 16 teachers filled the meeting room; the hard-working senior education officer Karlene Segree noting that the event was “oversold”.
Katalyxt team member Nordia Black welcomed the participants, opening the session by giving God thanks for another opportunity to share. Team leader Winsome Minott delivered one of her memorable challenges, featuring the lives of Jamaican real-life entrepreneurs, including Karl Hendrickson, Robert Levy and Tyrone Wilson. The journey of these entrepreneurs, she noted, demonstrates the challenges which entrepreneurs face, but which are overcome through motivation, networking, perseverance, offering quality products/services, and employing innovative marketing techniques. Minott stressed the importance of working hard as well as saving to achieve success in businesses.
Guest speaker Damien Williams, a passionate and gifted orator, underscored the need for selfmotivation. He encouraged each young entrepreneur to find his or her passion early on because a man’s passion is tied to his/her purpose. Williams shared his troubled childhood but, more important, added that it was his overarching trials that propelled him to tap into his gifts.
Students participated keenly in the training session and learned steps to be adopted to ensure placement in the top 10 entries. The team leader, in closing, reminded the students of the importance of saving and commitment. The students enthusiastically voiced the YIC mantra: ‘We are innovators, we are job creators, we are the best of the best of the region, we are worthy!’
The schools represented at the sensitization workshop include: Westwood High School
York Castle High School
St Mary Technical High School Muschett High School
St Hilda’s Diocesan High School Cedric Titus High School Aabuthnott Gallimore High School
Brown’s Town High School William Knibb Memorial High School
Albert Town High School Ferncourt High School Mount Alvernia High School Steer Town Academy