Women and youth from Soufriere recently benefited from a “Business Planning Model and Creation Workshop” aimed at guiding them through the necessary steps in producing short but comprehensive business plans.
The two full days of training was held at the Innovation and Career Development Centre in New Development, Soufriere, from Thursday, November 24 to Friday, November 25, 2022.
The initiative was a joint collaboration involving the Taiwanese Embassy, Taiwan Technical Mission (TTM), and the Ministry of Commerce, Manufacturing, Business Development, Cooperatives and Consumer Affairs’ Small Business Development Centre (SBDC).
During the workshop, the 25 participants were able to convert their creative ideas or local wisdom into feasible business plans so that they can start new enterprises or upgrade current operations.
They started by identifying the problems and finding the possible solutions with a systematic tool – the lean canvas. They also learned to do financial projections according to marketing strategies made by themselves in the classes.
His Excellency Peter Chia-yen Chen, Taiwan’s Ambassador to Saint Lucia, joined Hon. Emma Hippolyte, Minister for Commerce, Manufacturing, Business Development, Cooperatives and Consumer Affairs, at the opening ceremony on Thursday, November 24.
In order to improve the training’s effectiveness and sufficiency, the TTM hired Jennès Programme’s vocational skills training graduates as teaching assistants on the digital literacy aspect of the workshop. The graduates were able to show the participants how to use Microsoft Excel and other troubleshooting related to computer applications.