ST JAMES, Jamaica — Networking, starting small, managing risk, embracing a growth mindset, and relentlessly pursuing excellence were among the core pieces of advice delivered by renowned motivational speaker and hotelier Christopher Issa to student entrepreneurs from Hanover.

Over the past three months, 30 students representing four Hanover high schools, namely Rusea’s High, Green Island High, Merlene Ottey High, and Knockalva Technical High, operated 23 businesses.

They were competing for a grand prize valued at $90,000 in the pilot phase of the Youth Entrepreneur Programme, a joint initiative by the Social Development Commission (SDC) Hanover and the Infiniti Cooperative Credit Union.

Issa, the chief executive officer (CEO) of S Hotels, highlighted the power of networking by sharing how his property, the S Hotel, came to host the pilot programme’s closing and awards ceremony last Friday.

“Where this is happening [is] not by accident. Many people say business people are ‘in the right place at the right time’. It’s really not about luck, it’s about pursuing every opportunity,” stated Issa.

Issa explained that his hotel participated in the 11th Biennial Jamaica Diaspora Conference in Montego Bay for the first time in June. It was there that he met the SDC Parish Manager Tova Trench-Anderson. The two exchanged contact information, and Issa offered his support.

“My real love is the role that the hotel can play in the life of the city: hosting events such as this, or bringing down speakers who will address other gatherings to help inspire and motivate us,” stated Issa, who further encouraged, “Take a lesson from that, young entrepreneurs: you never can tell who, where, when you’re going to make that contact. You just keep reaching, making those contacts.”

The hotelier also cautioned the young entrepreneurs against overextending themselves financially in the early stages of business.

“Don’t spend too much money on your project. Wait to see if it’s really an idea that’s going to grow. A lot of people go out there and invest all they have in a venture, and when it fails, as ventures do, they lose everything. You really want to start a venture with as little money as possible,” argued the S Hotels CEO.

He pointed out that imagination and a growth mindset are key to launching a successful business.

“Unfortunately, in Jamaica, we suffer a lot from a ‘fixed mindset’ where we think things in a certain way. But the opposite of a fixed mindset — which again is hard for us to understand — is called a ‘growth mindset’ where you don’t see success or failure. It’s not about whether you passed the exam or not. It’s what you learned from even failing the exam and seeing failure as a way of learning and growing. And that is what is inhibiting us in our entrepreneurial journey,” argued Issa.

“Please young boys and girls, you need to think outside of the box as the saying goes. Now, the internet tool — the phone — is one of your biggest assets today. You can see pictures, you can see ideas,” added the CEO.

Issa stressed the importance of rigorous preparation as he warned the students against a casual approach to business.

“A lot of things that kind of make me concerned a little in Jamaica, we have this culture of saying, ‘Well, I’m gonna try a thing, you know’. Well, ‘trying a thing’, because as you heard earlier, business is very hard. Business is not easy. And don’t be confused with some of the things you see out there. Some of them are shams and some of them are scams. They are not the real thing,” warned Issa.

“Don’t let it look like you see this man and he doesn’t pay attention to his business and it looks like him have big car and a big house and all that, but you don’t know sometimes where the money comes from,” added Issa.

Instead, Issa challenged youth to strive for excellence and keep raising the bar.

“Please, let’s start raising the bar, raising it high because Jamaica can be a world leader — not just in athletics or famous just in music or food. I think we can be a world leader in almost everything if we put our minds to it,” stated Issa.

“Don’t ever assume anything. Check it out, ask the question, get the facts. And you know, one of Mr Issa’s favourite Jamaican words is ‘overstand’. You know, you need to overstand what’s really going on in the country. You need to overstand the customers, you need to overstand the regulations, you need to understand everything. That’s why I really don’t like when I hear a man or a woman ‘trying a thing’. I wish you knew how much effort, how much research, how much planning, how much thinking they have to do to really start a business,” added Issa in his closing words of advice.

— Anthony Lewis