 Good evening and welcome to the official launch of the Ministry of Youth Development and Sports Virtual Youth Development Program, hashtag 758 Youth Connect and Crossroads. I am your host for this evening, Karim Nelson. I'm Jacka Whitting and we just want to start off by thanking you so much for joining us here for this momentous occasion. If you've been seeing the flyers and the posters going around for the program, you would know that we are in the presence of esteemed company this evening and we have a very packed program for you. So I hope that you're ready to take that all in. To begin this evening, we're actually going to be starting off with a statement from the man who is currently heading the Ministry of Youth Development and Sports, Minister of the Honourable Kensin Kazibir. So let's go to that now. Prime Minister, Minister for Finance, Economic Development and of course the Youth Economy, Honourable Philip G. Pierre. Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Youth Development and Sports, Caroline Eugene. Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Youth Development and Sports, Leota Shalvan Mason. Director of Youth, Mary Wilfred, Program Coordinator, Nixon Barry. Other staff members including youth workers. Horse of this Crossroads show, that's Karim Nelson and Jacka Whitting. Young people watching, listening and participating across St. Lucia. And in the diaspora, via Facebook, Zoom and television. Media and technical team, ladies and gentlemen, wonderful good evening to all of you. This evening, I am thrilled to launch our Virtual Youth Development Program, hashtag 758 Youth Connect. From the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Youth Development and Sports shifted guests to ensure that young people are reached through the virtual space, to continue engagement and participation in positive youth development. Now, the main objectives of 758 Youth Connect are to digitize training and development, to increase youth capacity and improve the performance of youth and sports organizations via eLearning. It's also there to create access to virtual youth connections for greater opportunities to make a meaningful contribution to our society. The program is premised on five pillars. One, virtual psychosocial support that is supporting youth mental health. Two, virtual art space. It will focus on culture, the arts and of course public speaking. eLearning, delivery of high-quality certified training programs. The fourth one is a Youth Connect application that's information and connectivity hub for our young people. And five, of course, crossroads, the live show of which we will view the first episode this evening. The Ministry understands the importance of youth advocacy. Thus, the launching of crossroads creates an avenue for young participation. According to UNICEF, advocacy is about doing something to support, to recommend or implement actions linked to an idea or cause that you care about. Now, young people are passionate about many issues. Therefore, it is by hope that they will view and participate in this youth-led program, which will air live on social media, television and of course, radio. Crossroads will recognize young people for their contribution to the community and the national development. Additionally, it will create an avenue for young men and women to meet and discuss the current issues which impact their lives. This virtual space is expected to be animated and exciting and I am expecting that it will capture the imaginations of the nation's youth. Young people, I am delighted that my ministry can reach you through hashtag 758 Youth Connect and invite you to join this space as a collective voice to defend and protect rights and to support different initiatives or causes. I believe your voice can bring about changes in policies, in programs, in actions, behaviors, institutions and even national investments. Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to launch the Ministry of Youth Development and Sports, a virtual youth development program and Crossroads show where we discuss the in and outs of youth and sports development. I mean, like the minister said, this is really the space where we're providing the youth an avenue to get the answers that they need to provide them a better platform for youth advocacy because I mean, I'll be posting one tweet or two but maybe that's not the right way to get policy change in our country. And I certainly agree with that. And to get right into the crux of the matter this evening, we're going to be taking a deep dive into the youth economy and its role in national development. And I think we have a power-packed panel this evening. We have, in that of the conceptualizer, I want to say, the mastermind behind the youth economy in that of Prime Minister Hon. Philip J. Pierre. And I think who better off to start off the conversation. So if you could just give us maybe a short introductory speech to just start off this discussion. Speech, you really want to speak? You never ask a point. You said it was a question. You say you speak for so long. Thanks for having me. Let me thank you for having me as your first guest. I'm thrilled to be here. I hope I can speak to you. I hope you can understand what I'm saying. I try my best. I think that show is timely, particularly this time. So congratulate the Minister for being involved in that. The youth economy. So anybody going to ask me what's the structure? Really, if you got here, no structure. It ought not to have a structure. I'll tell you why. The youth economy is creating a special space in the economic system for young people. They have the tourism industry. They have the tourism ministry. They have the agriculture industry. They have the agriculture ministry. They have the youth economy as part of the superstructure of the economy, a sub-structure in the superstructure, aimed at the youth only. So all matters that relate to youth economic development. Now, some people think that once you hear about the youth, you must speak about sports and culture and such. That's important. But the youth economy is specifically economic ventures for young people. And the aim is that we can convert hobbies into entrepreneurship and skills into business. And who else can be more innovative than young people? So there are several things that young people can do. But we don't want them tied into a system, but tied into a situation where you have the normal functions that young people get bored about. But there must be transparency and accountability. So what we say to you is if you have an idea, if a young person has an idea that they want to manifest themselves to become sustainable and make money, that's what the youth economy is for. So the youth economy is part of the economic sub-structure for young people. That's what it's about. Prime Minister, just off of what you just explained, I can't help but wonder if that will impact the competitiveness. So are you saying that the youth would have a better framework to ensure that they don't already have to compete with larger businesses, especially when they're just starting off? What they will do, they will create avenues for them to feed into these businesses, but to create avenues for themselves. Let them get some. There are a million tourists that come to the ship here, a million tourists, right? About turning something, come through the hotels, and the same hundred thousand come through cruise ships. I'm sure that there are many creative young people who can find something for the same hundred thousand people to do, and they can do that even. If you got me to create that avenue for them. So some young people might decide, let's braid hair. That's what the youth economy is there to create the environment for them, for skills training, for financing the needed, for marketing, and for mentorship. So that young person will probably have an innovative idea of braiding hair for tourists. They may need something, if you got me to provide that kind of situation. So what you want to do is you want to challenge young people to become economically viable and sustainable without having to do the traditional things. Many people like us believe that young people only want to do certain things. That's not true. Young people have skills, and they can make money out of these skills. If you call me to create that avenue, then they make money out of it. Alright Prime Minister, on that note, I believe you definitely have the view was hoped, but we've just been informed that we're going to have to head to a quick break. But guys, stay tuned because when we return, we will be continuing discussions with the Prime Minister. Your son can kiss the cheeks of your loved one, and her stars can twinkle in her honeymoon skies. When her earthly embrace will reassure and calm your soul, unique view can change your whole perspective. She has risen to meet new challenges, and to provide safe harbor to all who reach her shores. For her hopes and dreams still stand, shoulder to shoulder. A precious reminder of experiences yet to come, and memories take you. Let her sense of adventure set you free, Saint Lucia. Breast milk is the gold standard that cannot be emulated. It is the perfect food for your baby. Breast milk provides antibodies and protective factors, which may fight against COVID-19 should your baby be exposed. Breast feeding reduces the risk for premenopausal, breast and ovarian cancers. Breast feeding is the most natural way to feed your baby. Breast milk provides all the nutrients your baby needs for the first six months of life. It requires patience. However, your baby deserves the best, and it's worth the effort. Breast feeding a baby up to 12 months improves job-own development, thereby reducing misalignment of the teeth. Breast milk is baby's first immunization. It protects against viruses, bacteria, and also prevents some chronic diseases. If your child becomes sick with any illness, including COVID-19, it is very important that you continue breastfeeding. A woman with COVID-19 should be supported to breastfeed her baby safely. Hold her newborn skin to skin and share a room with her baby. After giving your baby only breast milk for the first six months of life, you can now slowly start introducing solid foods at the right textures. These include period vegetables, fruits, peas, and healthy cereals. For more information, call the Nutrition Unit of the Ministry of Health and Wellness at 468-5359. Welcome back, and thank you for staying with us here on the Ministry of Youth Development and Sports. Youth Development... Try to say that three times fast. Youth... Virtual Youth Development Program. You guys are getting adjusted to it, as are we, as well as to the wonderful information we're actually getting from our Honorable Prime Minister this evening. When we cut off our break, we were actually just getting into the gist of things regarding the youth economy. So, you know what? Let's head straight back into it because the conversation was going really well. Alright, so I'll just start off to preface this question. Young people are extremely excited about the youth economy and its prospects. But we know with excitement, that brings curiosity. You spoke about the youth economy providing an avenue. One of the biggest questions for us as youth is, how would we be able to access the youth economy in that we have a Ministry of Youth Development and Sports and then we have your Ministry. So, where would be the home of the youth economy and does it have a home? Okay. First of all, in the budget address that I'm going to deliver in April, we're going to have a dedicated income allocation for the youth economy. The youth economy is going to operate after the Ministry of Economic Development as a program, but closely intertwined with the Ministry of Youth. But you know, we need to make a distinction between all youth playing sports and some youth playing sports. We tend to want to believe that young people, only what they really need is you see the playing sports. There must be young people who like sports, but not all young people like sports. Some young people like sports. So, the Ministry of Youth is going to deal with the development of the young person, right, sports. His development as a being, education, youth health, there is a very serious issue of youth health, which I think we are forgetting. And that's getting worse now with the pandemic, youth health. Several young people, they could not go to school because they lost their devices or the parents lost their jobs. So, there are a lot of issues that you all did with young people, many issues. But the youth economy is purely economic issues, issues of the scene about the economic sustenance, right. So, this year, I am going to say, there is an allocation of X amount of million dollars to be accessed by young people for the program of the youth economy. Working out of the Ministry of Economic Development. And the reason why it's there, because we wanted to be an economic program, this is why I said, working closely with the Ministry of Youth, the Ministry of Education, because I think something, there are several sectors that talk about the youth in agriculture, youth in industry, youth in the youth in that. But there is no central home for young people. So, the idea is you bring all these things into the youth economy, into that substructure of the entire economy and it links with other parts of the system. But the Ministry of Youth has an integral part to play in the whole organization and feeding into the youth economy young people's skills and what they want. So, you're saying more or less that it's just going to be integrated into the greater part of our economy? It's going to be a part of our economy. It's going to be more than integrated. I want the youth economy budget to increase every year. I won't tell you why it is this year, but it's going to increase every year. So, you can know, young people can know, listen to me, there are X amount of million dollars there for our development, which you have to access, but they have to be transparent and accountable. We expect them to be. We expect some level of responsibility. We're going to have provisions for errors. You see, I did something. We tend to be so rough on our young people that we tend to believe that, listen, young people are this and that, but they're not the most when I was young, you know. I mean, it's just that we could take more chances. As a young man, I could do more things. But you, young people now can't take chances because the world is so rough on them and the consequences of the actions are much more than consequences of my actions when I was a young person. So, we know that there are going to be mistakes. We know that there are going to be errors. You know that there are going to be some failed situations, but generally, I think young people, young people will embrace it and move forward because there's a lot of talent. There's a lot of talent. I was yesterday, I was at some Jeff project and I noticed young people in research and development. I mean, I was told that there's a guy with a lab in Cedars and what he's doing there is something else. Then there's a whole digital economy. Young people get involved in graphics and so we also want to create that space for them so they can explore, but they have to be accountable and transparent. Prime Minister, with you mentioning the budget and with you mentioning wanting to expand the program in future budgets to come, I can't help but wonder what is the sustainability for that? Working in the limited physical space we have as a large ocean state. I'd rather not say small island developing state, but we know that's usually the term. Working in our limited physical space in a post-COVID environment, what is the sustainability for a program like this? I mean, as a young person, we've seen... That's a perfect question. As a young person, I've seen so many great initiatives come and go because of limitations, fiscal limitations mainly, so what is the plan to keep this in? There's something called priorities. The priorities of our government is people and people are young people also. I'll tell you something. It is better to invest money in young people to get involved in an enterprise than to invest money in them in jail. And if we continue that decline, if we continue getting young people frustrated, and when I speak of young people, from all sectors of the economy, at risk youth, I mean, sometimes we seem to think that these guys, they live in this area and then let them for us to go, let them for us to criminal and things like that. There's a lot of talent there. Talent in sports, talent in creativity. I mean, where do you think guys like Eminem came from and all these rappers? That's where they came from. They came from using their talent, but they needed what do you need? Basically just a computer, $3,000, a computer, and then the world becomes your stage. So what do you do? You have to go at these young people then you talk about young people in the rural areas. Many people tell you, we do not have, the reality is we do not have the economies of scale to have a mango factory. No matter how many mangoes you see in the streets, we don't have it. What do we do have is we have enough mangoes to have a cottage industry with the mangoes. We have enough mangoes for that. So how can the youth economy get involved in that? If only we can involve in training a young person who has the aptitude to make mango juice, guava juice, in a cottage type atmosphere there is equipment available, you assist them. You assist them by giving them the training. They get the growth through a degree of standards because you can't produce locally. You have to produce locally for the global market. We need to export. So in that you can do that. To have a young person, it begins to have a cottage industry using our local fruits. Agriculture. Many young people want to get in agriculture but they want to get in a specialist type of agriculture. If economy will give, and they have gone to school, they have studied, they have followed the science. That's my favorite word, they have followed the science. They have followed the science. So they are going to use their science for agriculture. There is the cannabis industry. I mean, one of our neighboring islands, they are predicting that they will make 23 million dollars from cannabis. How do young people get involved in that industry? So it's a whole spectrum of things that we can get into. But what they need, they need a dedicated space in the economic superstructure. They need their own substructure in that economic structure where they know this is for us. You have small business, you have tourism, you have agriculture, now you have youth. And for me, Prime Minister, just to follow up, how will this differ from some of the avenues which are already available, such as maybe SSDF and business incubators and stuff of that nature. How does the youth economy stick to NIFA from what is already available? We intend to bring all of them in one space. We intend to bring all of them where they can feed on each other, synergies from each other. We are not going to disrupt what exists. We are going to bring them into one space. In tourism, this is about tourism. There are many people in tourism. There are hotels, there are tour operators, but all of them are involved in tourism industry. The same thing for the young people. Prime Minister, I can feel the energy just radiating off of you with your excitement about the youth economy. I really am, because I really, it's an idea that I think we can work with and speaking to people from other agencies, they think it's novel, particularly in the fact it's part of a portfolio. Never been here, that's never happened. I think this is the first time we're going to be tradeblazers and that's the first time there is actually a ministry called the youth economy. So it's a great excitement. People are speaking to me all over. I mean, when you travel, what's on the board and things like that. So we want to be a good guinea pig and I'm sure we have the talent in Selenusia to make it work. But we make mistakes. Of course, sometimes young people make errors but we need to be focused. We need to be disciplined and we need to be able to make young people responsible for themselves. All right, Prime Minister. Given your excitement about the youth economy, I can't help but to wonder had you had these opportunities available to you back in the day, maybe before you headed out to school, before you got into politics for sure, what industry do you believe you would have gotten into if you had the youth economy, if you had this push, if you had this area to really nurture your talents, your business ideas, what would you go into? Well, surprising. I actually spent most of my life working for myself. Yeah. I started being an agent for a newspaper. Oh. Yeah. So we just a big happy group here. I started believing in you. Then I did that. Then I went to study and I actually, when I came back, I worked for years and I worked for myself in the business, in the consultancy business. So I saw businesses grow. Not only young people, but I saw businesses grow. So actually, my business is actually a business of consultancy. And then at that time, if I had the expertise, probably out of the bin, my business would have been more technologically driven. You understand? But that wasn't available at this time. So my own, my passion would have been the business of consultancy. All right. And particularly in a coast COVID environment, like I like to say, is there any field that you would particularly encourage young people to go into? I mean, recently, I met a young man from Babono who took an unconventional route towards having his own business. Instead of guessing on the cars, I see a lot of young men have the cars. They have businesses selling technology. This is a young man. He does makeup. He does braids. He sets up events. He does interior design. So things in line of the youth economy with where Sintucia is going right now, is there any field you would particularly encourage young people to go to? Yeah, I'll tell you what. Some time ago, I made a statement about bananas. And everyone thought that, well, let's make memes of him, man. Which I enjoyed. Because you know, when you, in my business, these things actually give you a zeal to go forward, right? Absolutely. But I knew, I'd hit, I'd hit an important chord. The most hurtful part of that was for me, was when like a child, and a child was used to give the impression, oh, he want me to eat banana. That was good for them. But I thought that the politics have gone too deep. I mean, that could happen near election time. But five months after the election, when you have a government that has won an overwhelming mandate, I think that was a horrible add. But what I knew would happen is I knew it would kick off. Now, there are several areas. Food security is going to be one of the biggest factors in these islands. The next, the next war is going to be fought over water and food. If all this is of climate change, et cetera, right? Now, there is also a strong emphasis on things natural, organic foods, organic medicines, the use of herbs. I mean, your parents might have told you that there are a lot of illnesses that people cure with herbs. Now, that's a massive industry. It's a massive industry. It's a billion-dollar industry. And what do you need to do it? I have a story yesterday. The business of apiculture, bees, bee-wearing, it's a billion-dollar industry. There is something, there's a toxin from the sting of a bee. A billion-dollar industry. The whole world pharmaceutical companies want that toxin from the sting of a bee. And in Saint Lucia, there's a young man developing that technology to be able to absorb and to store the toxins of bees, right? Perfect client for the youth economy. Perfect client for food security. A lot of our diseases, hybrid pressure diabetes, is because of the food we eat, right? Honey is a good substitute. So even at that stage, even there, you see how food security can come into being. Seamos. I was in Dubai in January. January. And there was a $6 million worth of orders for Seamos in Lucia. A massive industry where you can grow food security. There is the whole idea of fishing, changing lifestyles. So that the agriculture industry and the magic culture industry, which is fishing. Again, we are moving again in Saint Lucia. There's another young man who is developing fads. Fads are aggregates that catch fish. The old fashioned fisherman uses rope and that kind of thing. There's a whole industry. We develop in Saint Lucia by young people. You see, the sky is the limit. We need to get it on the country. So I'd say to young people, think, and that is where we get training in marketing. So you think about what you're going to do and there are a lot of people that you can go to. The music industry, countries like Trinidad and Tobago, or no, countries like Jamaica, up to now they make money of music. In South Korea, there's a whole industry about music for young people. We've reached a stage where we have to export our knowledge, export our talent, export our creativity. That's where we are. Bananas, again, we've spent all our life using bananas as a primary product. We've shipped it to other countries. They sent it back for us. Banana chips. All kinds of things. And what was sad is that some misguided people took on bridge to be told to eat bananas. I mean, that was, instead of making me laugh, because you're spending millions of dollars to export a crop. Millions of dollars. But you send your people not to eat it. So we have to decide how we can change that raw crop, that primary value. You have to add value. Even the banana tree, the leaves, clothing, many things. The sky is the limit. So what I'm happy, the country has bottomed to it and the country has said 700,000 visitors come to our shores every year. These people, supposedly come from England and things, buy bananas in our supermarket. What is an industry? You've been able to the farm, to the farm where zero banana is grown and he said, here's how it's grown, from the tree. Makes sense? 700,000 of them. If you get 50,000 of them to eat one banana then they come there. Look at the industry you've created. But for our city political motives and try to make the idea sound as if it came from the mouth of a fool, they created a whole lot of confusion. But the country is smarter and now next Sunday we actually have a banana festival. You understand? So young people now must look at the ways and means of adding value to that banana crop. The leaves are to create an energy for themselves. I think perfectly said. Prime Minister, you mentioned these avenues for you. When you look at the youth economy, how do you envision it impacting St. Lucia down the line 10, 20 years from now? First of all, I think we'll create a new cadre of business people. You see? We have to have confidence in ourselves as a people. We produce Arthur Lewis and Derek Walcott. There are many of us, who can do the same, you know. But we need confidence. There's a guy called Dr. Kate Lawrence, who is actually an engineer and a doctor in regenerative science. What that guy does is that he causes your your skin, your body to grow. That's the solution. He's from Marcia. They're a lot of talent. But we have no confidence in ourselves. Anytime you have an idea, we cut it down. And much as if the idea fails. A failed idea is not a failed life. We have to wheel and come back again. You know what I hope to do? I hope to create a new cadre of confidence, productive and wealthy businessmen. We have to create wealth. There's nothing wrong in having money. Why don't you want to be a millionaire? You should want to be one. We need to create that cadre. We have to be more confident. We as a people have to be more confident in ourselves. We have to show our confidence in our own expertise, our own knowledge. I'm a young boy. I can't make it. Somebody else has come and done it for me. We have to be confident. We need to. In the youth economy, we will seek to create that new cadre, that new culture of business person that will manifest themselves to become big businessmen and own large businesses starting from there. As we speak about creating a new cadre we're definitely all looking to be millionaires. I think this is an opportunity for us to get ready to bring in our guest who is actually a young entrepreneur who we have been having discussions with and who we certainly believe will be able to thrive in the youth economy. But before we do that, we're going to head to a quick break so stay with us because we will be right back. And for yesterday and today for a time when her son can kiss the cheeks of your loved one and her stars can twinkle in her honeymoon skies when her earthly embrace will reassure and calm your soul and her unique view can change your whole perspective. She has risen to meet new challenges and to provide safe harbor to all who reach her shores. Her hopes and dreams still stand, shoulder to shoulder. A precious reminder of experiences yet to come and memories take you to let her sense of adventure set you free. Welcome back and thank you so much for staying with us. Before we went to the break, we were actually discussing with Prime Minister the Honorable Philip J.P.A. what the youth economy is likely to look like in the next 10 or 15 years and luckily for us, we actually have a young entrepreneur who is likely to benefit from the youth economy in years to come and to be part of the vision that the Prime Minister has for the youth economy in the next 10 to 5 years. So good evening Mr. Rolando Wilson here from the Transformer Repair Guy. I know you have been going at your business for a couple of years. So give St. Lucia an intro to who you are. You've been on the airwaves of Beatrice and me sharing your story. So tell St. Lucia who you are for anyone who hasn't heard yet. Good night everyone. My name is Rolando Wilson owner and CEO Repair Technician at the Transformer Repair Guy. My business revolves around the area of electrical repairs of almost any household and commercial electrical item, mainly the area of recoiling. Alright, perfect. So Rolando you've been listening to the Prime Minister for a while now and I think you heard when he said he wants to make us millionaires. So based off what he has been saying as someone with a small business, a budding business as of now, how do you feel that you know that this is coming and it may benefit, well it will benefit your business? Well I've been listening to the Prime Minister for the past half an hour and I believe every word which came from his mouth I mean he dotted his eyes across his tears so I believe he's on the right track and he has a very wide view for the young people especially the youth economy. He's very passionate about the economy and finances of persons around St. Louis, especially the young folks growing up, persons like myself. So he's right on point and I believe his vision will execute as he explained a while ago and even more. And keeping up with the discussion about the youth economy are there any areas that maybe you'd want to highlight to ensure since we already have the listing here of the Prime Minister that as a young person already in the business it could be marketing marketing training it could be in terms of how to expand your business to ensure that maybe it's just not you doing everything after a while you know you hire a few people because that's where a lot of businesses get stuck in chupiness are doing it by themselves and they get so used to doing it by themselves they lose track of the vision to expand. So where would you like to see the youth economy go as somebody who would be directly impacted by it? Okay, very good question. The youth economy it's in its early stages right and as the Prime Minister said there will be some room for errors as you know we would normally do as young people we don't you know get all the stuff right and as time continues I believe young persons like myself as business expands and it grows we will need to make space to allow persons to work alongside us you see too many businesses around the place you have one person and then something goes below and then the business just dies off there is no one else to carry the mantle or for example if you're probably busy or you're not around someone could probably feel in for you. So I believe it's supposed to be a holistic approach where we don't work as a single individual more or less of a team so it's a team effort because I mean many hands you know when you clap you need to answer for one. So I believe the youth economy it has a bright future. Alright so Rolando you've been running your business for some time now and as with any business there would be difficulties. Right now what is your major difficulty and what do you think with the youth economy coming in what do you think it would help you with? Okay one of the major difficulties is marketing sourcing of raw goods and materials and I basically think that's it for now. That's not too many issues I face on a daily basis but so often when the issue comes up and sometimes I'll explain. Prime Minister as you've explained these will certainly be areas addressed through the initiative. In fact I was just thinking of when you were talking about marketing but I didn't know it existed right and his business has a market niche by his 110 from the Sivamami and our current is 220 so he has a niche but people need to know about it you see to what some boy normally does a transformer zone is through it so his market he's right on target the marketing and he can even take it a step further you understand because a transformer is something that you need all the time because you have 110 current so you can take it a step further and you have 220 and 110 so I think marketing is very good. Prime Minister is already helping you with your business. He just basically had what I just said and let me add on to what he just said you know the industry I'm involving I didn't get any formal training as persons would go to school or university and come back home with some sort of degree and say well I'm an engineer or I'm a license technician or I don't have some certificate because none of that. I learned the basics at a workshop where I learned for about a year and a half and from there I stepped out I did my own stuff so you mentioned transformers in Senusha we have over 60,000 households and the surface we don't only repair transformers almost any electrical items so I employ other youth not only persons who are in the area repairing and refurbishing whatever skills whatever talents that you have I mean you were born with this Geese Forest right? Some persons will not be interested in going to the 9 to 5 and going home some of us we like to be more more spontaneous more on your own stuff with the money and self-motivated self-driven persons want to be their own person and the youth economy is well placed in the center for those things to actually take place so I believe it's a very good initiative and I employ a lot of young people like myself even if you're in your 40s I mean you're still young Mr Prime Minister I tell you you're still young don't let your time and your youthful energy go to waste doing the wrong things there is always something that you can do to earn money figure out your passion as we continue discussions we're actually going to open up right now for questions through our Zoom and Facebook live Facebook live so you guys can comment questions down below through Facebook and they'll be channeled to us and you can ask questions over in Zoom as well are you all excited? I don't want to say that in our space our office is going to be for the youth economy it's going to be a young space it's going to be a space it's going to be a young space are we going to have ring lights are we going to have a nice space you know so it's going to be a young space you understand where young people can come in and have their meetings they're training it's going to be a nice space you want to really make young people get involved in their economic development you want to make them develop economically we have to create new businessmen that's the important thing and we have to create a cadre of new businessmen that's our aim all our people are just believing they can't make it I mean we have to make them make it I think especially at this point in time of the year with independence right around the corner we're already celebrating but it's very important to note that you mentioned the lack of confidence because that ends up being an issue in a lot of areas for young people just being confident in yourself that first step and I think that ties in with our national pride as well as young people to be thinking oh yeah no I'm from a small country I can't accomplish this this other person is doing but I think that should be something of interest to the youth economy as well ensuring that our young people are confident in themselves and confident in themselves as seen solutions I mean as a small island that you may not see when you zoom out on Google Earth but we produce two Nobel laureates so we are definitely global leaders and we will continue to produce global leaders and the world is your business the technology has made your market the world I mean at this point is it even just the world I think we're going to be heading out into space soon Roland no I'd like to open the floor do you have any questions that you may have for the Prime Minister some things that you may be uncertain about are there any questions that you may have for the Prime Minister a few as the discussion was going on a few questions came to mind it's basically in the youth area has to do with the youth economy and other issues that affect the youth so he could probably just touch on them briefly he doesn't need to go in-depth in each question but he could just touch on them very briefly because then again time is out there Mr Prime Minister I noticed that you the MP4 castries is not the same area in which I live I live at Atoge Marshall castries it was brought to my attention that you came to my area a few times but I was always busy I was never there so I never got a chance to meet you but in the area where I live there seems to be a lot of young people who surprisingly they are very passionate about certain things however due to the demographic where most of us come from there is sort of a dark shadow cast upon that area for years and being with the Prime Minister you have the opportunity to help make a difference I don't say make the difference but help make the difference because you could do your best if we the people who live in that area we do not want to better ourselves I mean it's just a waste of time true and you're right first of all that area you mentioned is very very close to my heart it's an area that I have I can say loudly and boast and loudly and clearly that I have the majority support that is my garrison so what can we do for the young people in tourism first of all we need to improve the infrastructure now infrastructure of the community and we've done that we started doing that we put in a children's park the children's park was to get in there there was the internet internet connection there were benches there were swings for children and I can tell you I can announce tonight we've ordered a new set of playground equipment we're going to be redoing the seating the internet I think it has been reinstalled but you're going to ensure it's there we're going to revamp the park because you must have known that on Sundays kids used to go in there and play on the swings some years ago and use the swings and the parishes on the internet children used to go there and do their homework is even needed more now but unfortunately because of the politics of the day the park was allowed to go into the state of ruin I want to announce tonight and Santa gave me the opportunity it's going to be a renovator and you mean back and play the infrastructure of that area if you've been there for a while what the cynics among us will tell us, will tell me or will say oh that's what he's talking about always been the point that he will feel as if most knows it he can tell you I don't know if he's old enough for that or he was there long enough for that or if his parents were there before him they could tell you to get to people's homes up in that area because mother before the steps of mother pure mother I remember being in an airport I think it's in I think it's in Ohio kind of what the state and a guy came to me he said Mr. Pierre he said I'm from two I said wait he said he was back home and he said his greatest pleasure he was able to carry his suitcase up to his parents house now for the cynical person who doesn't understand nonsense you understand but for him it was a good because the mud and the sip and the falling thing because there were physical steps what we need to do now we need to give ownership on that land we need to make them own it because they do not own it so in my constituency there is a serious land tender system problem and you know you where people speak but they don't speak out of their political knowledge their partisan political knowledge the biggest issue in the country's constituency is the ownership of land the land the land the people live in is not their land and the owners of the land have abandoned the land and because of the proximity to countries it's a high value land which people will not buy because touge is next to cash you know in fact I build a road it goes straight into town you understand but that's high value land but people won't pay for it because it's called touge so we need a serious system of open renewal where we either go to and then the government has started a program of house repair we're going to help you to repair the house in which you live in so to cut a long to be short in terms of infrastructure we have to develop infrastructure in the area in terms of youth development then the guys in there the talents can feed into areas of the youth economy Prime Minister I think we have had such what do I even call it this conversation really insightful I think when you first announced that there would be the youth economy I think there were a lot of questions well quality what it is and I think I have attained greater discernment so I hope our viewers also attain that discernment as well before we wrap up discussions however I just want to open the floor to you too if you have any final messages you'd like to send to our viewers ooh we have a alerts actually before we wrap up we have a question coming in on zoom let's just give the technicians a second to have that over to us first we're going to have a local competition let's continue we have a local competition as young people to give us ideas so the logo is going to be published very soon for our letter heads that's fantastic I see a lot of people going now into NFTs but when you mention the memes we need to get some people those quick meme makers into developing some NFTs but how do you when you see this being rolled out I think we're going to announce it very soon I think for independence you're going to announce the logo have you said the rollout I mean the youth economy it needs to be something that is formal something that is well structured in a sense although you say it wouldn't be structured because it wouldn't be rigid it's going to be transparent and accountable so I'm just asking right now persons who own small businesses or persons who would like to start small businesses and they would want to sort of piggyback on that initiative would there be a requirement because you cannot have stuff all around the place so I have those things properly organized so we're looking at hairdressers miscellaneous first of all actually it's going on now through the taiwanese the taiwanese have started already they've taken on the concept and they've run if it to a certain extent so what there is a training program and they're training something young people being trained and these young people are going to I think a certain number of them are going to be giving startup grants to start their own business and very soon that should happen because the training is happening now and there will be 900 young people applied alright that's right really fantastic 967 young people applied and I think 267 are training now and they're going to bring it on to 150 that will be given angel grants to start their business I want to send the taiwanese for that these people will feed right into our youth economy so what will happen is that you have a kid and you talk to us when people will be there talk to you you're going to talk chat then they're going to ask you a few questions obviously if you start a business they're going to be some level of evaluation but it's not going to be this long form I'm feeling the reason why I ask because as young people we want to start a business and we have all the stuff we think that we need we would go to a bank and the financial places and most of the times we return down for a number of reasons and one of the main issues is that most people will come from a low background low income nobody's going to have a low background sorry, my mistake not to cut the conversation short but we actually have a zoom question are we ready for the zoom question now? yeah okay, hi, good night good night my question is how does the youth get access to the youth economy? because we all know that when these programs and projects roll out we tend to see the same people benefiting how will a little youth in bere return benefit or access help from the youth economy some or most of these youth may not have a CXC or barely have a secondary education but they have great talent and so on so my question is how will they have access or a fair chance at the help from the youth economy? that's if you listen earlier and that's a very relevant question if you listen earlier you'll notice I said youth at risk and urban and rural youth particularly youth at risk and these are the people you're speaking of you're speaking of youth at risk and rural youth what we provide for them is an opportunity they have to come in and talk we can't stay back at our homes and assume that something is not going to be for us we're going to create the environment when you come in your chat there's going to be an evaluation of what you're saying then we will take it from there but there's not going to be the rigidity there's going to be very agile and flexible but it's going to be accountable and transparent so if you have an idea the idea may not sound to be a conventional idea but you talk to us or you talk to the people there the people who are going to be there for their own personal characteristics or being agile themselves and having the developmental focus wanting to see people grow so we're not going to stigmatize anybody I can assure you and I always speak about people being stigmatized and I speak passionately about people stigmatizing people from my constituency so we're on the right track in that nobody is going to be stigmatized but there must be discipline and accountability that's all we ask for talent, discipline and accountability and with that I feel like we're in the opportune position for us to wrap up tonight I just want to say thank you so much PM for sharing this information with us I mean I'm certainly looking forward to the youth economy I may not have had a business idea before but keeping in mind everything that's coming I'm certainly going to start brainstorming at this point how about you I've already started brainstorming through the process of this conversation but with promises we're going to have to fulfill them and as young people we're hoping that this will be able to benefit us so we'd like to thank everyone for tuning in thank you for joining in hopefully next time we'll get some more questions because we will be back you should be seeing those flyers very soon we'll be back in March, March 10 we'll be back thank you very much and I'll be sure to best alright thank you for having me as well