Y.F.F. and B.B.B. strike partnership for youths
A government and private sector partnership is expected to yield new opportunities for enterprising young Belizeans. Over the past ten months, Youth For the Future and the Belize Business Bureau have been cultivating a working relationship to develop programmes for its members. Today, the two organisations formalised their agreement by signing a Memorandum of Understanding.
Linsford Castillo, Administrative Officer, Y.F.F.
“It is certainly a good beginning because from this we see us really getting ahead and exchanging resources with the Business Bureau in order to enhance our enterprise programme that we have over here, as well as their Junior Achievement Programme that they are working on. “
Dr. Cardo Martinez, President, B.B.B.
“We in the Belize Business Bureau have over the last three months, been evolving a Junior Achievement programme for which we have had international funding. And that international funding, in terms of Junior Achievement, is to have youths develop corporate skills, understanding corporate to be small and medium business, because Belize Business Bureau is primarily about small and micro and medium business, and how to handle very simple things that we take for granted now.
“There’s a new component in the junior achievement, which is the tourism component of the same purpose. And we are all fitting this together because when Belize Business Bureau and the board of directors understand clearly is that as we are progressing through to 2005 and 2007, Belize needs to become competitive, and even though I am saying this and this is overheard and it’s all overused words, the reality is that it is. One of the things we need to keep clear is that if Belize doesn’t enhance its productivity for internal use and if Belize does not try and promote the trade and export of its products we are going to be in serious trouble.”
Both Y.F.F. and the B.B.B. have agreed to share information on business training, exchange technical and financial resources for youth enterprise development strategies, co-sponsor seminars and coordinate programmes.