The Gilbert Agricultural and Rural Development Center (GARD Center) sincerely wishes to thank all of those who have supported our organisation, and assisted our Center in any way over our first twenty five years of existence and we wish to encourage you to continue this journey with us.
The Center started its year long celebrations with a church service on Monday, 8 December 2014, at Ebenezer Methodist Church, St. Mary’s Street, St. John’s. This was followed by a Graduation Ceremony held on 16 December 2014, which was held at the same venue.
Our next activity is a Farm-to-Table event which is planned for April 2015, at the GARD Center Nature Center. This fund raiser showcases our local producers, their products and the chefs who will be on hand to prepare the delicious meals. We cordially invite you to join us at this event.
As our 25th anniversary celebrations continue, we will keep you updated with our events and look forward to having you join us.
Category Archives: Entrepreneurship
GARD Center Launches Corporate Partner Program
The GARD Center is launching its Corporate Partner Program. What’s that you ask?
The GARD Center is a non-governmental, not-for-profit organisation which relies on donations to continue its work in training young people in various skill sets and to be successful entrepreneurs. Without the assistance of international and regional organisations, corporate citizens and ordinary citizens alike, the Center does not have the resources to do so.
With your help, the Center can continue to positively change the lives of scores of persons looking for a second chance, an opportunity to pursue dreams of entrepreneurship or of a new skill.
Here’s your chance to give back to the community in a positive way. Petition and encourage your company and the organisations with which you deal on a day to day basis to give to the GARD Center, an organisation dedicated to molding, shaping and changing lives.
Please give generously.
Contact the GARD Center at 268-463-4121 or email us at admin@gardc.org for more detailed information on how the program works.
Global Entrepreneurship Week – Breakfast Event
The launch of Global Entrepreneurship Week in Antigua and Barbuda, as celebrated around the world, was marked with an Early Morning Connector Event, held on 17 November 2014, from 8:30am – 10:30am, at the City View Hotel in St. John’s.
There were twenty-nine (29) persons who attended from the following organisations.
- GARD Center (3)
- Scotiabank Antigua (3)
- International Monetary Fund (IMF) (1)
- Antigua and Barbuda Coalition of Services Industries (ABCSI) (2)
- L.C.P Industries (3)
- Astute Management & Consulting (1)
- Lighthouse Global Executive Services (LGES) (1)
- Antigua and Barbuda Investment Authority (ABIA) (1)
- Office of the National Authorizing Officer (NAO) (2)
- Antigua Public Utilities Authority (APUA) (3)
- Department of Youth Affairs (1)
- Nyahbinghi Farms (2)
- Brenda Carrott (Media Consultant) (1)
- Observer Media Group (1)
- Amya’s Design (1)
- Jah Showers Smoothies (1)
- Bajez (natural soaps) (1)
- Keynote Speaker
The Keynote Speaker for this Breakfast event was Mr. Curtis Dennie M.B.A, Marketing Consultant.
Within his presentation, Mr. Dennie stated that the mindset of students are brainwashed into thinking that upon leaving high school, it is expected for them seek employment rather than to venture into creating employment for themselves and others and to be more entrepreneurial.
The Theme for this year’s GEW Breakfast was, “Venture Capital & Entrepreneurship in a Caribbean Context”
GARD Center Antigua and Barbuda Kicks Off Global Entrepreneurship Week
The Gilbert Agricultural and Rural Development Center (GARD Center) – Antigua and Barbuda hosted a Breakfast on 17 November 2014 to kick-start Global Entrepreneurship Week. This is a part of the Scotiabank funded Bridging the Gap project, and was held in collaboration with regional partner CoESL. The GARD Center launched GEW 2014, joining hundreds of countries globally who are taking part in the November 17-23 activities. The launch was held at the City View Hotel, Antigua. It was moderated by Mr. Johan Oliver, Business Development Officer at the GARD Center. Mrs. Roberta Williams, Executive Director of GARD Center, read remarks from Mrs. Marcia Brandon, of the Caribbean Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Livelihoods (CoESL), which is based in Barbados.
The Bridging the Gap (BtG) project aims to celebrate entrepreneurs and promote entrepreneurship. It serves as a way to create ties between Private Sector and Civil Society, entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship, as well as to connect regional entrepreneurial development entities in an economic sustainable development triangle. The BtG project has three (3) main activities. These are the regional launch; early morning regional connector events which will be held during GEW, on different days, under separate themes by each country participating in the project; as well as a series of regional business mentoring sessions. These business mentorship sessions are intended to facilitate a generational transfer of knowledge which will assist and guide young and mature entrepreneurs on how to prepare to launch a business and how to grow their businesses.
Global Entrepreneurship Week Nov. 17th – 23rd 2014
Global Entrepreneurship Week will take place this year from November 17th to 23rd, under the theme “Bridging the Gap.”
See more on the week of activities.
http://www.gew.co/blog/
http://www.gew.co/blog/global-entrepreneurship-week-caribbean-2014-launched
2014 Annual Caribbean Sustainable Livelihoods Through Entrepreneurship Conference
The Caribbean Center of Excellence for Sustainable Livelihoods (CoESL) and regional partner the GARD Center, recently concluded the 2014 Annual Caribbean Sustainable Livelihoods Through Entrepreneurship Conference in Antigua and Barbuda, from 27 – 29 October. The theme for this 7th annual conference was “Getting Regionalism Right – A Strategy for Sustainable Development.”
The Opening Ceremony and the Conference were held at the GARD Center, Mercers Creek. The keynote speaker was the Hon. Samantha Marshall, Minister of Social Transformation & Human Resource Development. After the Ceremony, the Minister officially launched Caribbean Entrepreneurship Week (CEW) and declared the Trade Show open.
Over 40 persons from eight countries registered for this intensive three day conference which covered subject matter to include presentation on ‘Creating the Region’s Entrepreneurial People; Strengthening the Eco-System’ by Mr. Ashley John.
A Think Tank / Knowledge Sharing Session was held whereby four groups were formed and participants were divided amongst the area of their interest. Topics discussed were: 1) Business Mentoring and Coaching for Entrepreneurs 2) Agriculture, Climate Change and Green Techniques 3) Volunteerism, Internships, Apprenticeship and Shadowing Programmes and 4) Entrepreneurship. Each group was chaired by an expert in the respect fields.
The gathering was addressed by a local entrepreneur, Mr. Yves Ephraim, CEO, Pegasus Technologies Inc. who spoke about ethics in business.
Discussions included, ‘Accelerating Regionalism Through Entrepreneurship. What More Needs to Be done? The Male panel was moderated by Mr. Ashley John, while the Female panel was moderated by Ms. Akosua Edwards.
A regional panel on ‘The Current Status of Efforts to Develop Regional Entrepreneurs. Helping People to Create Livelihoods for themselves.’ Panelist included: Robertine Chaderton, Caribbean Consulting Group, St. Kitts & Nevis; Stephane Burke, CIBC/First Caribbean International Bank; Keisha Sandy, Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI) and Pamella Thomas, Team Fresh / Caribbean Farmers Network (CaFAN). This panel was chaired by Marcia Brandon, CoESL.
CANARI Launched its How to Guides, while the CoESL launched its 2013 Conference Publication & 2013 Research Publication. In addition, a personalized Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) Presentation was made by Mr. Jonathan Ortman, President, via video and the Launch of GEW Caribbean was announced by a drum roll and celebratory dance. All participants were encouraged to message at least five (5) persons to announce this launch.
Field Research sites were organised for day 3, with participants divided into three groups. Much discussion took place during the presentation of the Group Research Presentations.
The conclusion overview of the three (3) day conference was given by Roberta Williams, GARD Center.
An Award ceremony for the outstanding Trade Show exhibits and those with outstanding Entrepreneurial skills were rewarded on Wednesday afternoon. Awards were given for the Best Product; Most Informative Exhibit; Most Innovative; Most Entrepreneurial – Male and Female; as well as for Environmental Awareness; Best Quality; Best Agripreneur – Male and Female; Most Committed and Best Potential.
The conclusion overview of the three (3) day conference was given by Roberta Williams, GARD Center.
An Award ceremony for the outstanding Trade Show exhibits and those with outstanding Entrepreneurial skills were rewarded on Wednesday afternoon. Awards were given for the Best Product; Most Informative Exhibit; Most Innovative; Most Entrepreneurial – Male and Female; as well as for Environmental Awareness; Best Quality; Best Agripreneur – Male and Female; Most Committed and Best Potential.
The CoESL and the GARD Center sincerely wish to thank all of the sponsors, volunteers and participants of this event, who truly made it a resounding success.
Eggplant Dessert Competition
The Basic Baking and Cake Decorating classes continue with the youth being challenged in various ways. Recently a competition was held to ‘test’ the students’ creativity.
This was in the form of creating an Eggplant Dessert. Chefs from hotels were invited to judge the competition.
It was held on 20 October 2014.
Caribbean Entrepreneurship Week 2014
Caribbean Entrepreneurship Week (CEW) will be celebrated from Monday, 27 October 2014 and will be launched in Antigua and Barbuda.
This is a week in which the Caribbean Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Livelihoods (CoESL) and partners encourage and lead the Caribbean in highlighting Caribbean Entrepreneurs and Entrepreneurship. It is a week of celebrating Caribbean entrepreneurs and turning the spotlight on the value of entrepreneurs and the impact of entrepreneurship in the Caribbean.
GARD Center Represented at GEC in Moscow – March 2014
Last month, more than two thousand delegates met in Moscow for the Global Entrepreneurship Congress (GEC)—an inter-disciplinary gathering of startup champions from more than 140 countries. Above all else, they are interested in sharing ideas with one another on how best to help startups flourish in their countries.
Representing Antigua and Barbuda, and the GARD Center at the congress was Johan Oliver, Business Development Officer. The GARD Center is also the local representative for Global Entrepreneurship Week, and their corresponding events.
(Johan Oliver; far right, with Jonathan Ortmans; President of GEW, & Award winning startup Founders for Teddy the Guardian; Josipa Majic & Ana Burica of Croatia.)
The entire week of the Congress offered an impressive range of interesting activities. The Opening Ceremony commenced with a global Research+Policy Summit, and an entrepreneurs’ Peer to Peer event. Official fringe events, conducted by leading practitioners and entrepreneurial support organizations, took place on the days surrounding this Forum—providing educational and networking opportunities as well as a unique window into successful Russian models with potential for being replicated.
The Congress pulls together a broad collection of voices from across the entrepreneurial spectrum—with previous participation from celebrity entrepreneurs like Richard Branson and Marc Ecko, startup community champions like Brad Feld of TechStars and Dave McClure of 500 Startups, as well as an increasing number of government officials interested in getting smarter about how to more effectively help entrepreneur led startup communities.
However, the real driving force at the Congress was an expanding community of delegates—entrepreneurs, researchers and supporters who have partnered with their national leaders in more than 140 countries—working tirelessly to advance startups and position entrepreneurship as the cornerstone of global prosperity and stability. It includes the teams from all 140 countries who run Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW)—the annual collection of national startup campaigns that attracts 7.5 million participants to roughly 20,000 events, activities and competitions during one week each November. In Moscow, they gathered to exchange ideas for GEW 2014 and strengthen the connections that fuel a burgeoning global entrepreneurial ecosystem.
The 2014 Congress was a joint effort by Global Entrepreneurship Week, the Moscow City Government and the Kauffman Foundation.
Mentors and Tutors Trained in Gender Sensitization
GARD Center recruits and trains eleven Mentors and Tutors on Gender Sensitization
In an effort to continue providing young women and men between the ages of 16- 35 with professional training and nurturing, the GARD Center recently recruited and trained eleven mentors and tutors who will be working along with these young persons.
The training was conducted at the Directorate of Youth Affairs by the Director, Ms. Cleon Athill, see photo at right. The topics covered in the training prepared the mentors and tutors for the challenges and situations they would most likely be faced with when working along with these youths, such as, differentiating between gender and sex, and gender biases. It is expected that the mentors would be assigned to these youth and potential entrepreneurs for a period of 3 years, during which time they would be evaluated on a quarterly basis.
The GARD Center continues to attract young persons aspiring to become entrepreneurs to contact the Business Development Unit. We can be contacted at 463-4121 or 734-0084.
