MONTEGO BAY, St James — General Manager of the Montego Co-operative Credit Union (MCCU) Ornell Bedasse says the time has come for practical lessons in wealth creation to be instituted in the secondary school curriculum, as small businesses are pivotal to the development of the national economy.

“We have to now begin to set up our curriculum to encourage wealth creation so that we can encourage people to go into business [so] our students leave (school) with practical training. “We have to now begin to develop that mindset; if we are going to transform this country it has to be built on small businesses. If we are not producing something, we cannot produce wealth,” said the credit union manager.

“Developed countries, like England, built their economy on small businesses and I think, for us to progress, we will have to begin to build our economy and the best way to do it is on small businesses,” he argued.

The credit union manager was speaking at the Montego Co-operative Credit Union (MCCU) Skills for Life awards ceremony, held last week at the Cornwall College Chapel in Montego Bay.

The MCCU Skills for Life programme, which started in 2010, exposes high school business students to practical knowledge of micro businesses. Upon the successful completion of the training and the approval of a viable plan, each participating schools is given a start-up capital of $25,000 with a lifespan of four months.

Monthly visits are made by the MCCU’s assessment team to ensure compliance and sound business practice. At the end of the four-month period, the amount of $25,000 is returned to the credit union to fund other schools, while the students keep the profit made from the business.

This year, Cambridge High, which amassed a profit of $231,000, outperformed the other three participating schools to grab the championship trophy and a cash award. Green Pond High School students and their coach received cash awards for second place, while Cornwall College and Spot Valley High finished third and fourth, respectively.

Meanwhile, Bedasse bemoaned that over time the education system has failed to keep pace with what is needed to enrich the country, arguing that even as a lot of qualified persons are graduating from universities, they end up finding it difficult to gain employment in their areas of study or other suitable field.

“In other words, I don’t think we built the productive capacity enough to absorb the explosion of studying and education and people becoming qualified in terms of what they are doing. So what we are having now is, in a sense, watered-down employment. Because they are turning out of a lot of qualified people but there are no jobs,” he said.

He said that the Skills for Life programme has provided practical training in small business for students and stressed that it is the duty of other financial institutions to follow suit.

“I believe that the financial institutions have a responsibility and a role to play… I believe everybody has a role. It has to start with you (students), it has to start at this level. When I was in school we had business subjects — practice of banking and so on — but you really didn’t get a chance to practise hands-on. And the programme that we have instituted, Skills for Life, is exactly what this is aimed towards — to give you an opportunity to run your own business, to get a feel of what it is,” Bedasse said.

“… You will see that other ethic groups who live among us master that. You will see their children going to school and universities, but they came back to a business,” he said.