Nations to introduce KidsMBA
From left to right: ABE top students with ABE Chief Executive Officer, Rob May and Nations Chief Executive Officer, Dr Dexter Phillips and Director, Pamela O’Toole
From left to right: ABE top students with ABE Chief Executive Officer, Rob May and Nations Chief Executive Officer, Dr Dexter Phillips and Director, Pamela O’Toole

— young people must be stewards of change, not NGOs and oil companies, says ABE Chief

SCHOOL of the Nations through the Association of Business Executive (ABE), an internationally-recognised, not for profit organisation, renowned for high-quality business and management skills development, will be introducing a KidsMBA.

The programme targets children ages 11 to 15 and is designed to complement and enhance school education with a real-world taster of the life skills, know-how and aptitude required to run a business or become an entrepreneur.

The innovative programme consists of 16 modules which are taught thought lecturing, games, role play and discussion. The modules are Business Ideas and USP, Business Name and Logo, Copyright and Patents, Pricing, Marketing and Sales, Customer Service, Communication and Networking, Business Structures, Business Finance, Contracts and Legal Obligations, Operational Plan and Personnel, Budgeting, Bookkeeping and Tax, Business Plan and Financials, Leadership and Corporate Responsibility, Pitching to Investors and a ‘Shark Tank’ event (selling of ideas to investors).

Founder of the programme, Professor Mark Watson-Gandy said the initiative is a useful alternative to the trial and error approach to business.

“As a society we still rely on kids learning business stewardship through trial and error. It is hardly surprising that so many promising new businesses fail,” he said.
Nations Principal, Dr Brian O’Toole told Guyana Chronicle that the programme opens up the concept of self-employment and business management to young people and serves as a great introduction to future business studies.

Speaking at a cocktail reception at the Impeccable Banquet Hall on Saturday night, ABE Chief Executive Officer (ABE), Rob May said while many countries across the global south are currently enjoying rapid growth, not all of them represent great investment opportunities.

He also noted that not all of them will enjoy sustainable growth.
“For me, an indicator of potential is not the abundance of natural resources a country has nor its agricultural and manufacturing base or its pro-growth mercantilist policies. For me – it’s the quality of its intellectual and human capital. And many countries right now are struggling with intellectual poverty,” he told the gathering of students and education administrators.

ECONOMIC SHIFT
According to May, globally, there is a massive economic shift, where technology, automation, globalisation and political uncertainty are affecting everything about the world, especially the future of work.

In the next 20 years, he said, many countries will struggle to make the leap from low-skilled, cheap labour markets to knowledge-led, technology-based economies.

“They are at risk of sliding from economic exploitation to economic irrelevance. This is where Guyana must stand apart. And it can do this through education. We hear about the discovery of vast commercial quantities of oil and this is helpful for Guyana, and we will certainly help equip people with the tools to avail themselves of the direct and indirect economic opportunities this brings.

But do remember, a petro-based economy it is not the total solution. I will say to you tonight, the same thing that I said in Nigeria last month – crude oil is not your greatest natural resource; your greatest natural resource is your young people.”

He told the gathering that it is the young people who will be the stewards of change in Guyana, not the government, not non-governmental organisations (NGOs), not oil companies and that change could only occur through education and continuous professional development.

“ABE and our partners here tonight are committed to helping Guyana achieve future success. We’re offering even more courses, targeted at different age groups, now for the first time starting at age 11 – to embed entrepreneurship deeper in Guyana’s education system. Through the depth and breadth of the work we now do, ABE is firmly established as part of the region’s supply chain. And we will continue to be your partner, in prosperity,” he told the gathering.

At the reception, several local students who topped at the ABE global examinations were recognised for their outstanding performance.

Those honoured were Darnel Benn of the Business School (Enterprising Organisation); Chrystel Taylor of the Accountancy Training Centre (Business Strategy and Decision Making) and Tanuja Goberdhan (Integrated Marketing Communications) and Aneissa Moore (Societal and Social Marketing), both of Nations School of Business. ABE is headquarted in South-West London and operates in over 32 countries. The organisational established in 1973, was founded with a clear social purpose to improve business education for aspiring entrepreneurs in developing countries.

Edward de Bono, a 2005 nominee for the Nobel Prize for Economics and a leading authority in the field of creative thinking, innovation and the teaching of thinking as a skill, serves as president of the ABE.

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