YTEPP chairman: Seize your opportunities

YOUTH Training and Employment Partnership Programme (YTEPP) chairman Thora Best encouraged graduates of YTEPP’s cosmetology programme to make the most of their opportunities. Speaking at a graduation ceremony at BPTT’s hospitality suite at the Queens Park Oval in Port of Spain on Tuesday, Best told graduates the skills they learned In the year-long programme would help them to find employment, become self-employed and later become future employers.

Best said YTEPP established a partnership with the Vancouver Island University to create a centre of excellence in cosmetology in the Caribbean. She said a closer look at the cosmetology sector showed there was a demand for services such as barbering, hair weaving and hair braiding. This could extend to hair colouring, hair straightening and other advanced hair treatments. She said the trend was expected to continue over the coming decade.

Through its cosmetology bus, which is an extension of the centre, Best said YTEPP is going to different communities in TT to provide specialised training in cosmetology for people in those communities. A total of 70 people from Point Cumana, Carenage, Fyzabad and Arima graduated on Tuesday in barbering, hair braiding and hair weaving. Best thanked BPTT for partnering with YTEPP in the programme.

She said those types of relationships “allow us to expand our reach to individuals and communities which would empower them towards sustainable local economic development.”

Best added that YTEPP had been offering training in cosmetology for the past 30 years and some 2,000 people had benefited from it.

BPTT corporate responsibility manager Ronda Francis agreed with Best. Francis said BPTT was happy to play a role in helping people in vulnerable communities in TT achieve their full potential. She also opined that entrepreneurship and innovation are two important skills which can help people to survive the current economic challenges the country is facing.