Entrepreneurship can help reduce violence

US Ambassador to TT Joseph Mondello said entrepreneurship, when used properly, played a vital role in reducing violence and extremism.

He made the comments at the start of the RISE Woman’s Conference, held at the US Embassy’s American Centre, Briar Place, Sweet Briar Road, Port of Spain.

The three-day conference, which began yesterday, brought together female entrepreneurs from countries in the Caribbean and Latin America, including Barbados, Guyana, Suriname and Venezuela.

The conference focused on “addressing key challenges faced by female entrepreneurs in Latin America and the Caribbean. The three-day conference will focus on female-driven business in communities, and their potential for growth and the possibility of strengthening communities by providing jobs and income,” its website said.

Mondello added that the embassy works “diligently” with many stakeholders on many different initiatives, but two areas of focus were reducing violent extremism and promoting entrepreneurship.

“Whether it be teaching children to adopt an entrepreneurial spirit at a young age, assisting parents and families to create sustainable revenue streams or fostering businesses that contribute positively to under-served communities, entrepreneurship can be a powerful tool in taking back our society from crime and violence,” Mondello said.

He said the participants were “hand-selected” with the hope that over the course of the workshop they would build their knowledge base, not just to improve their businesses but to apply the techniques learned to improve their communities as well.

Entrepreneurs, he said, worked hard and sacrificed each day to keep their businesses successful, but it was made harder for women, who often contended with gender biases and who were still “living and working in society still grappling with gender equality.”

He asked the audience if they wondered why the embassy focused on empowering women only for the workshop. Mondello’s answer was that in addition to supporting gender equality, the simple answer was that it wanted results.

“And according to a study from the publication US Insights on Wealth and Worth, women more than men own businesses to pursue a passion and make positive change in the world,” he added.

Mondello said in his 35-year political career in New York he remembered at the beginning all those who stood for public office were men.

“Every single one. Now, you’d be happy to know that more and more women are not only running, but being elected, and I would say that the vast majority of the high positions in New York...are being held by ladies.

“And they are doing one hell of a job, because I think they work harder than men to begin with. I try to surround myself with as many women as I could, not for any other reason than that I wanted the job done correctly and they did it,”he said.

The workshop was made possible, Mondello said, through the embassy’s public affairs section and its Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative alumni.

The feature address was delivered by CEO and founder of Trabaja Mama Jennifer Schell. She quoted a 2015 McKinsey Global Institute Report which says, “If women were to theoretically have economic parity with men by 2025, it would boost global GDP by up to US $28 trillion – the size of America's and China's GDPs combined.” She also spoke of the work being done by her company.

Others speakers included Nichola Harvey, founder and director of local NGO We Say YES.