You Are Reading Vol. 01 Issue. 09 June 21, 2013 Edition
The Business of Mentorship The Cave Hill School of Business in association with Higher Education for Development (HED), the Unites States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Kelley School of Business recently hosted a JOBS Business Mentorship Symposium.
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IMPORTANT DATES BACK TO BASICS HEALTH FAIR JUNE 30 BRAZIL TRADE MISSION SEPTEMBER 14 - 21, 2013.
Preparing for the worst
allowed him to pay more attention to those areas. For him, he saw administration, finances and management as critical areas mentors could offer assistance.
Ms. Cummins highlighted the close relationship she had developed with her mentor and noted that this The symposium drew relationship allowed her from a cross section of mentor to open up her persons whose mentoring network of persons and experience ranged from less resources to her. than one year to over ten years and featured a panel Her advice to prospective of young entrepreneurs. mentors was to “do the research”. She went on to One interesting feature say that mentors, even if of the symposium, was a they did not know about the discussion of the results of particular type of business the Model of Emotional should do the necessary Intelligence EQ-i 2.0 research to bring them up to assessment. Participants speed and put them in a better who had previously position to offer advice. completed the assessment got a chance to understand Both panelist underscored exactly what character the need for trust and traits they needed to bear openness in a mentorin mind as they interacted mentee relationship, the with potential mentees. investment in time and the willingness to be open to Kirk Mason of KOJM accepting criticism and Enterprises and Nadaline feed back even if it was not Cummins of Caribbean what you wanted to hear. E-Waste Management two young entrepreneurs The symposium concluded led the panel discussion with participants being which focused on their guided through a series experiences with mentors. of scenarios designed to explore the mentorship role Mr. Mason noted that “owner and scope. This session was does not always mean good conducted by Mr. Patrick manager” and sometimes Smith, Executive Director entrepreneurs overlook in the Office of Mentoring certain critical aspects of Services and Leadership their businesses because Development with the they are too close to them. Indiana University He felt that having a mentor WALK THE TALK -STEP TO THE CHALLENGE JUNE 30
In Focus
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Past President of the Small Business Association(SBA) Ms. Celeste Foster, making a point to the participants during the JOBS Business Mentorship Symposium
WALK THE TALK STEP TO THE CHALLENGE Get your walking gear ready as WALK THE TALK presents Step to the Challenge. The Walk the Talk Committee has teamed up with SBA member Caribbean Institute of Nutrition and Dietetics to stage a 5 kilometer walk from Pelican Village to the NUPW headquarters in Dalkeith on Sunday June 30, 2013. The proposed route leaves SBA and heads up Hincks Street, left at the top to lower Broad Street and proceed up Broad Street, right above Inland Revenue building across the bridge to Bay Street, along Bay Street, passing Paragon and left around the Garrison Savannah and continue
UPCOMING
in a northerly direction to finish at the NUPW. One of the prizes to be won include a prize for the largest group. Participants can pay a registration fee of just $10 which includes water along the route and a healthy OLD TIME BREAKFAST at the finish. Persons can register by downloading the registration form from facebook.com/smallbusiness-association or facebook.com/ Caribbean institute of Nutrition & Dietetics.
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There will be no registration on the day of the walk, so register your group early
REACH THE SBA HEAD OFFICE
1 Pelican Industrial Park, Bridgetown, Barbados Phone:
(246) 228-0162
Fax:
(246) 228-0613
Email:
theoffice@sba.org.bb
Website:
www.sba.org.bb
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Innovation Award
The magazine profiles SBA members and their goods to business executives particularly those involved in procurement, international donors and of course the discerning consuming public. format that can be easily read The magazine will be on any laptop or smart phone. available online to all of our members and readers in a international organisations were now doing this and more research needed to be done at the local level to determine what entrepreneurial activities could be developed.
SBA members should take note that the National Minister Jones noted that we need to get back to what Innovation Competition was recently launched by the the older generation already knows and add value to it. Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation. The National Innovation Competition will fall under on Science and Technology In his address to the audience at the launch Minister the National Council and interested persons can contact Director Charles Ronald Jones pointed out that there were opportunities in medicine to utilise local plants . He noted that many Cyrus at 427-1820, 427-5270 or 427-5276
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SBA MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
Fitzgerald Consulting Inc. is a newly incorporated firm with expertise in all facets of financial management, including taxes, accounting, bookkeeping, QuickBooks, business consulting, and much more catering specifically to small and medium sized entities.(SMEs) We’re noted for our strong commitment to our clients along with the follow through to help them succeed. Our value proposition is in our expertise and fee base. Unlike most firms we operate under flat fee structures so you know what our services will cost you up front. Giving you the ability to assess the cost and benefit of the services we offer. Adrian A.F. Hurley Bsc. FCCA, CA, brings over 20 years of diversified experience specializing in the manufacturing, engineering and professional services industries as well as individuals. Adrian started his career with an international professional services firm and then entered industry rising as far as Financial Director with a local manufacturing firm, until he formed his own consulting firm in 2012. Since then he has been applying his experience to assist clients in all aspects of their business and financial lives with value added service. SBA Outlook Newsletter
May 31, 2013
Disaster Mitigation: What you need to know How quickly can you get hacker activity. All of these can your business back up and disrupt your business operations. running should a disaster strike? At its broadest sense a Business With the start of the hurricane season Continuity Plan focuses on what and experts heralding a busy season has to be done and most importantly we need to turn our attention to who will do what. As a sole trader protecting what we leap out of bed you may be required to perform every day for - our businesses. all roles, or invest in support from organisations who can assist in Business Continuity and disaster securing your important business planning is not usually high up on the assets and getting you back in agenda of many entrepreneurs. More operation in the shortest possible time. so we see disasters only in the sense of hurricanes. History however has Once you have started your shown that apart from the other issues business try to perform a few “what that may affect our relatively tranquil if” scenarios. This will form the environment such as fire and flood, basis of your Business Impact the country is still susceptible to Analysis which will identify the hurricanes, waterspouts which make organisation’s critical services and their way to land) and earthquakes. products; perform a ranking in the order of priority of services or The SBA wants to encourage products for continuous delivery or members and business owners rapid recovery; and identify internal alike to start putting plans in and external impacts of disruptions. place to protect their investments. Any disaster can be handled in the Disasters could include natural following manner disasters such as tornadoes, floods, earthquakes and fire, accidents, 1. Response sabotage, power and energy 2. Continuation of critical services disruptions, communications, 3. Recovery and restoration transportation, safety and service sector failure, environmental As a business owner, or manager disasters including pollution and in business, you should always hazardous materials spills and be thinking of what could increasingly cyber attacks and possibly go wrong and seek
to mitigate the impact on your business, employees and revenue.
Barbadian folklore of sorts. Tomas’ impact however, showed that regardless of the title, these systems have the potential to seriously affect LAST WORD the way we live and FROM THE CEO how quickly we can recover afterwards. I have been recently seeing stories appearing in the local media of persons who are still almost three years later dealing with Tomas’ battering.
reduced in some cases to a state of helplessness. The loss of life is sad.
When God is not a Bajan
I grew up hearing that God is a Bajan. If you hear it often enough you tend to think so as well, especially in light of the fact that our beautiful island has largely been spared from the ravages of a major natural disaster in the last fifty years. I say major natural disaster because we have been impacted by relatively minor disasters and it has been our reaction to these events that causes me the most concern. Tropical storm Tomas which impacted this island in 2010 in my opinion was taken less seriously by the general populace simply because the nomenclature of STORM was used instead of HURRICANE. We all hear stories of hurricane Janet. Its a
Part of your disaster plan should also include your employees. Business owners have a responsibility to, where possible, assess the vulnerable among their employees and see how they can offer assistance. Employees are the back bone of most organisations and sometimes are left out in the planning stages. Ask yourself, once your business is up and running, who will you get to actually run it if your employees have been negatively impacted by a disaster. It is such foresight that allows businesses to create very solid plans that can in most cases guarantee that the disruption of operations will be kept to a minimum. If you provide a good or service that is critical to the general populace or that is in itself critical to other highly necessary services then you have a duty to make disaster planning your top priority.
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To obtain more information on disaster management consult the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency or go to http://www.cdema.org/
Closer to home, we have seen disasters in the Caribbean. Our susceptibility to major flooding and earthquakes which seemingly reverberate throughout the archipelago. The UWI Seismic Centre has told us emphatically that we should prepare for a major quake in the Caribbean, because we are over due. We have also been warned to prepare for tsunamis. Recently we have been advised to get our house in order because the huricane season has begun. Insurance is just one Yes we are fortunate not to have to aspect of the preparation. Given what deal - thus far- with the awesome we have witnessed with Workbench might of God we continue to Furniture and their provider we can witness in other countries. The USA see that our disaster planning and reports one disaster after the other, business continuity plans have to go fertilizer plants exploding, off the much further than simply insurance. scale F5 tornadoes, severe flooding, crippling blizzards and incredible Get ready comrades, God instances of sabotage which spares may be a Bajan but he helps neither government, nor general those who help themselves citizen. The rich and the poor are
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The Small Business Association (SBA) is the island’s non-governmental, non-profit representative body for micro, small and medium enterprises. The SBA seeks to expand business opportunities for its members, provide educational and developmental services and lobby to ensure an enabling environment for the growth and sustainability of the SME sector. For more information on the work of the Small Business Association, please visit our website: http://www.sba.org.bb SBA Outlook Newsletter
May 31, 2013