Twenty-five persons will later this month be engaged in a one-week on-the-spot Business Labs Workshop focused on agribusiness enterprises, sponsored by the Young Americas Business Trust (YABT) and Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation (MASHAV),{{more}} in collaboration with the Centre for Enterprise Development Inc (CED).

The workshop will provide trainers and young entrepreneurs with guidance and support to generate viable and creative ideas to assure new agribusiness enterprises. The Business Lab will stimulate innovation and generate entrepreneurial initiatives that positively affect the society and their community. The workshop will offer hands-on business experience and guidance in business modelling and planning, marketing and financing; it will evaluate existing ventures to identify and pursue new opportunities.

It will run from August 26-30 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Conference Room and will be facilitated by an Israeli team comprising David Slyper, who is a founder and former CEO of Business Development Centers (MATI) and Technology Incubators and innovator of SME supporting tools in Israel and other developing countries; and Miss Rina Yaffe, an expert in developing training programs using experiential learning methods and a facilitator of innovative workshops on entrepreneurship and on the implementation of SME supporting tools and networks in developing countries.

By the end of the Business Labs participants will have expanded acquaintances, self-confidence and understanding of agribusiness in practical planning, development, economics, operations, management and marketing terms; and will have hands-on experience in product/service planning, producing, marketing and selling, business modelling and business planning of a small or medium enterprise, under the local geographic, statutory, cultural, socio-economic, vocational and supply and demand conditions. They will also become acquainted with the YABT and MASHAV tools, created within the four focus areas (Leadership and Networking, Training and Experiences, Strategic Alliances and Technological Resources) and with Israeli models for supporting entrepreneurs. Trainers who will participate in the Business Labs will experience and learn the methodology so that the program may be replicated. They will also acquire familiarization with setting up and production of the “Business Lab”.

This workshop provides trainers and young entrepreneurs with guidance for the development of agribusiness enterprises, that can later continue receiving support through the second edition of the Caribbean Innovation Challenge (CIC), which will be launched later this year.

The CIC is part of the Entrepreneurship Component of the UNDP project Youth Innovation (Youth-IN): A Caribbean Network for Youth Development, which responds to the needs of youth identified in the report of the CARICOM Youth Commission (2010): ‘Eye on the Future: Investing in YOUTH NOW for Tomorrow’s Community’. As part of the process of the Caribbean Innovation Challenge (CIC), the Business Labs help young entrepreneurs in the region to formulate their business proposals.