As part of observing and carrying out activities for ECCB’s Financial Information Month (FIM) representatives from financial institutions on the island participated in a financial clinic on Wednesday, October 24, 2012, organinsed by the East Caribbean Central Bank and hosted by the local agency office.
The financial institution which comprised primarily the banks, Bank of Montserrt and the Royal Bank of Canada; and the St. Patrick’s Cooperative Credit Union (SPCCU) set up various booths at the Arts and Education centre in Brades where they addressed financial concerns from members of the public.
As the local Agency rep Mrs. Claudette Weekes said, she thought that residents would avail themselves of the opportunities to know of the benefits of these institutions. She told ZJB News,” I think it’s absolutely important and I think that residents should avail themselves to these opportunities when there offered, very often the financial institution have benefits and have things on the offer that people don’t know of…”
Mrs. Weekes reported that the day began with a trickle of people, but grew substantially throughout.
Business Symposium and Innovation Forum
On Wednesday, October 17 the ECCB conducted another video conference seminar, titled Business Symposium and Innovation Forum under the theme “Identifying Business Opportunities.”
The Symposium was co-sponsored by a few local businesses as the Agency conference room hosted a packed gathering of business people on the island. The Symposium and Innovation Forum sought to provide a platform for the exchange of ideas and perspetives on the linkages between innovation, competitiveness and business success.
The video conference brought business persons who gathered at the various agency offices and at the bank’s headquarters in St. Kitts from where the conference was conducted, servicing the Economic Union territories. These participants were exposed to presentations on Commericalisng Innovation, presented by Mr. Andred Harding, Managing Director of Vanguard Trading Ltd. Inc. Re-defining and Re-tooling the Business Sector Through technology by Mr. Julian Hall, Consultant and Author; Entrepreneurship, Business Models and Financing Innovation by Mr. Claudius Francis, Consultant, Empowerment Group Companies; and, Strategic Foresight, Strategic Agility and the Future Orientation of the Private Sector, by Mr. Michael Boon, Managing Director of Timothy Beach Resort in St. Kitts. These presentations were each followed by lively open discussions.
Perhaps the catchiest presentation was that of Claudius ‘peto’ Francis. One sector of his presentation dealt with The Ideal Business Model (Jim Muehlhausen) which talked to Eight essential areas to a business model!