St. Mary Holds YEP Orientation

The benefits of the Young Entrepreneurs Programme (YEP) were explained to young people in St. Mary at an orientation seminar, held at the HEART/NTA Vocational Training Institute, Port Maria, on Friday June 26.
The function was attended by a number of young people representing various organisations in the parish.
Entrepreneurial Trainer for the YEP programme, Kaymian Weekley, asserted that it was established to encourage school leavers to start their own businesses, and to make the best use of the opportunities available to them through its operation.
She noted that training and financing will be made available to participants, and pointed out that the financial assistance they receive, will be offered at a lower rate of interest than is otherwise available for business ventures.
Stating that the maximum loan available under the programme is $100,000 per person, Miss Weekley said up to four persons are able to access a maximum of $400,000 for one project. She added that the interest rate to the borrower is ten percent per annum on the reducing balance, and is fixed for the life of the loan.
She said that the businesses covered by the programme include individual enterprises, such as beauty and spa services, retail and trading, light manufacturing, fish farming, apiculture, pet rearing, and group projects such as fish farming, livestock projects, development of protected cultivation, such as greenhouses and agro-processing.
Participants must be June 2009 graduates from a high school, tertiary institution or a school for students with disabilities.
Asserting that participants must not be older than twenty-five years, Miss Weekley said documents required to accompany applications must include a birth certificate, two recent passport photographs, tax registration number and letters of reference.