Our Mission: empowering Dominican youth in realizing their entrepreneurial potential.

The Dominica Youth Business Trust is a programme of the Government of Dominica and the Commonwealth Youth Programme, and is adapted from the Commonwealth Youth Credit Initiative (CYCI) model of the Commonwealth Youth Programme. The CYCI assists national governments in providing young women and men with an integrated package of low-cost easily accessible credit, enterprise and personal development training order to establish sustainable businesses.

Under this Project young persons in Dominica will be provided with the wherewithal to establish sustainable businesses. It combines attributes of several past initiatives and involves inputs from several institutions and donors into a coordinated project that delivers an efficient package of services to young entrepreneurs. The first consultation with stakeholders of the project was held in August 2003. The Trust was officially launched in May 2004.

A number of institutions are concerned about the plight of youth in Dominica and the impact the present economic situation will have on their prospects for employment and on their overall standard of living.

Several initiatives are being undertaken within the region to promote entrepreneurship and employment generation.

DYBT is an initiative of the Government of Dominica and the Commonwealth Youth Programme – Caribbean Centre.

This Project focuses on a model by which young persons in Dominica will be provided with the wherewithal to establish sustainable businesses. It combines attributes of several past initiatives and involves inputs from several institutions and donors into a coordinated project that delivers an efficient package of services to young entrepreneurs. The first consultation with stakeholders of the project was held in August 2003. The Trust was officially launched in May 2004.

Target Group

Young people 18 – 35 years old who are desirous of starting or developing a micro or small business.

Facility

A Loan Guarantee Fund is set up to facilitate young entrepreneurs to access loans for micro enterprise development. A Memorandum of Agreement was signed on March 16, 2005 between the Dominica Youth Business Trust and NDFD, AIDB and all the Cooperative Credit Unions. The programme comprises a component of Personal Development, Small Business Management Training and Business Mentorship.

The Trust

A team of nine Trustees appointed by the Government is responsible for the coordination and implementation of the Programme.

Ronald Jno Baptiste – Chairman
John Roach – Secretary/Coordinator
Daniel Reid – Deputy Chairman
John Foye
Careen Prevost
Louisiana Dubique
Macintyre Douglas
Kerry George
Patricia Inglis

DYBT Status

Twenty-six young entrepreneurs graduated from the Personal Development & Small Business Management Training and have completed their business plans. The DYBT Graduates are now negotiating with the financial institutions for their business loans with a guarantee fund of maximum EC$7,500.00 by the Trust.

The response from the financial institutions has been quite encouraging.

The mentorship component of the project comes on stream in July, 2005.

What do you need?

To be 18 to 35 years old
A proper ID
At least 1 creditable referee
A desire to own your business
Contact

For more details, contact:

John Roach
Telephone: 1 767 449 8012
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Ronald Jno Baptiste
Telephone: 1 767 448 3240
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it