University of the West Indies offering assistance to retrenched workers in Barbados

The Cave Hill campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI), says it is providing assistance to retrenched public sector workers on starting a new business.

“One of the ways in which this university is responding to the retrenchment currently taking place as a result of the Barbados Economic Recovery and Transformation (BERT) programme, is the provision of a entrepreneurship clinic on Saturday that will offer free professional advice to would-be and budding entrepreneurs,” said Pro Vice-Chancellor and Principal Eudine Barriteau.

She said that the regional tertiary institution would be providing the dismissed workers with free advice on

“Yes, the Cave Hill campus will assist persons who have been retrenched, and who have a business concept and wish some advice as to how they may proceed to implement it,” she said at the official opening ceremony of the UWI’s Open Week: Academic and Arts Expo.

She said that the sessions were also open to individuals who have not been retrenched.

In October, Prime Minister Mia Mottley, whose Barbados Labour Party (BLP) party came to office in May following the general election, said that said that the job cuts would affect workers in central government and government entities.

“We give the country the assurance that while we do not have the exact number because we are following process, rather than arithmetical deductions, we know that it unlikely to be more than 1,500 people over the course of the next few weeks. But, regrettably, one is too many,” she said then, while detailing a wide-ranging plan to cushion the fallout.

Barbados has entered into a US$290 million Extended Fund facility (EFF) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as the new government seeks to turn around the ailing economy.

Professor Barriteau said that accounting experts and others in the Department of Management Studies, Department of Economics and the Student Economic and Empowerment Development (SEED) Programme would provide assistance in reviewing projects and offering technical advice.

She said that over the next week officials of the university would be outlining a suite of initiatives geared towards people who were seeking to retool or start new businesses.

“Because of rapid changes in domestic and regional job markets and the general tightening of the national economy we are witnessing daily, these programmes are particularly relevant. However, I must add that life-long learning is now a required feature of 21st century societies,” she said, while appealing to Barbados Association of Retired Persons (BARP) members to also consider continuous studies.