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Well Done Bizzy!

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Prime Minister Mia Mottley revealed yesterday that the government was in discussions with a local charitable trust to implement a program to train the youth of Barbados to write computer code, web design and other technology related programs. She was at the time addressing a standing room only Barbados Chamber of Commerce luncheon. She proposed that the program will be delivered from one of the many abandoned IDC buildings.

In response to the news local businessman Bizzy Williams immediately offered to fit the IDC building selected with photovoltaic panels and donate payments earned from the energy sold to Barbados Light & Power to assist with financing the initiative. The blogmaster is pleased this government is focused on educating and equipping our youth to compete in a world that has been turned on its head by technology. Especially coming a few days after the revelation that the prime minister’s office did not have Internet access up to a few days ago.

Say what you will, Bizzy is always prepared to assist the party in power!

Watch the full address.

 

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159 responses to “Well Done Bizzy!”

  1. Dentistry Whisperer (M. Pharm. D) LinkedIN Avatar
    Dentistry Whisperer (M. Pharm. D) LinkedIN

    It is not going begging, but one can get 4% on savings with no up front front fee.Haynes Darlington. 

  2. Mariposa Avatar
    Mariposa

    Will wait and see how all this come about
    Mottley has perfected the art of smoke and mirrors to a “T”
    Btw why wouldn’t she name this charitable organization
    It would have been helpful to those who are active in volunteerism to give a helping hand
    But i suspect all this long talk is another smoke and mirror performance on which she usesa platform to build confidence in the people

    ###:::##:###whatawaytogo

  3. Well Well & Cut N' Paste At Your Service Avatar
    Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service

    As long as it does not cost the taxpayers and pensioners anything in the long run, they have lost enough from this gang. This is not an opportunity for Bizzy and his Gang to pretend they are doing the people on the island a favor or that the people and thier children are STILL their SLAVES….as is always their position as it regards the majority on thd island…Mia better make this very clear and don’t fall into old patterns of subservience to minorities…these same minorities owe the people a HUGE DEBT….for decades into the future.

    If jackass Jones exminister of education was not such a consummate jackass. ..the children of Barbados would have been Coding since 2010….8…years ago when a parent of an Exhibition Scholarship brought it to his attention and told him it was the future for the island to generate jobs and wealth for the majority population. …his question to what is Combinatorics, Optimization and Cryptography. ..was…wha is dat????

    Am sure Jackass Jones now remembers the conversation vividly now that he has more time on his hands and less air in his head….I am sure he would be happy to hear that the scholar in question is now one of the most sought after Coders /Cryptographers in the World. …the World…both him and Dumbville…should be happy.

  4. Wily Coyote Avatar
    Wily Coyote

    COW put out a baited hook and the the big fat fish took it, now the hook is set. COW now is in control, new government obligations are now on the books.

  5. Well Well & Cut N' Paste At Your Service Avatar
    Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service

    The crooks ALWAYS show up the weaknesses in the slaves of parliament…am sure all of them are ready to lay down and prostrate themselves in subservience at this time with this recent announcement…when all the thieves did was lay in their beds and plotted a way not to become a subject of any investigation into their criminal activities that have consistently ripped off the treasury and pension fund over the years, stealing from the people the same people they are now pretending to help..

    The black mind is weak and the weakest black minds can be found in the parliament.

  6. Well Well & Cut N' Paste At Your Service Avatar
    Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service

    …years ago when a parent of an Exhibition Scholarship RECIPIENT brought it to his attention …

  7. Bernard Codrington Avatar
    Bernard Codrington

    @ David BU

    What is it that the Information Technology programs at the secondary and tertiary educational institutions supposed to deliver again?

    Are they not enough firms in Barbados that provide IFT services that can expand and employ these graduates?

    Perhaps the IDC should seek out these fledgling IFT companies and rent or sell these buildings at reasonable rates/ prices.

    Perhaps all companies which install photo voltaic systems should do so at reasonable prices. I think this would generate less speculation and unenvidenced charges of corruption.

    In passing is the photo voltaic systems any cheaper foreign exchange wise?

    Ecologically are they lower costs than petroleum plants?

    Just asking.

  8. Bernard Codrington Avatar
    Bernard Codrington

    We really need local coding skills.”Unenvidenced” may be a Freudian slip. But I intended to type “unevidenced”.

  9. Bernard Codrington Avatar
    Bernard Codrington

    @ David BU

    IFT is evolving as it should. We should not be phased by it however disrupting it appears to be. We need to manage it and harness it to our benefit. It is a mean to an end NOT the end itself.

  10. Well Well & Cut N' Paste At Your Service Avatar
    Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service

    And those weak black minds can also be found on BU…in abundance.

  11. David Avatar
    David

    @Bernard

    You are living in a world that is being digitally transformed right before your eyes. Do you want to compete in it or no.

  12. Observing Avatar
    Observing

    @David
    The benefits of this initiative could be n the export of services and the development of a new industry (similar to India etc.).

    The training and exposure should be seen as simply a first step. How it is harnessed, marketed and maximized is the true test. How it is supported by a financial services sector will be another consideration. Technology (and its use/benefits) must never be seen in a 1 dimensional context.

    It sounds good to say we have coders etc., but, how are they impacting the economy, government efficiency or foreign service inflows?

    Like many things as Well Well said we are already about 5-10 years behind the ball. Better late than never though.

    Just Observing

  13. David Avatar
    David

    @Observing

    We are late to the party but better late then never they say?

    It is ridiculous that the government in 2018 has to implement digital transformation in government. It was heartwarming to hear Prime Minister Mottley day to the gathering yesterday that she has given instructions to advise how all processes in central government can be made more efficient by undergoing digital transformation.

  14. Bernard Codrington Avatar
    Bernard Codrington

    @ David BU

    David the only body I compete with is myself. I live in the world that is increasingly being digitally transformed, to use your terminology , and I am coping quite well. I am not overwhelmed by it.
    I believe I have contributed to that transformation process.
    Technology has always been around. We have to be careful that it remains our tool and not become our master. It cannot think. We design and manufacture it. Man still has to make decisions. The technology contributes by processing the information faster. But remember GIGO. Garbage in Garbage out.

  15. Donks Gripe Avatar
    Donks Gripe

    A ass posit that Bizzy always ready to assist the government in power . Why not, he’s become very wealthy out of the Treasury. The ministers we cuss with access to the treasury are novices to Bizzy in the skill set of obtaining government contracts/money. Bizzy complain a Canadian investor was given a chance before him to build a solar farm. The Canadian catch hell from BLP and BU yard fowls and vanish without trace. All now we waiting for Bizzy to start the project he said the Canadian shouldn’t have gotten. Watchmuh should ask Bizzy about that it had something to do with Waterford.

  16. David Avatar
    David

    @Bernard

    The issue is about making processes that support decision making more efficient and at the same time enhance the learning of our people to be able to efficiently compete in the world now and in the future. The above is not determined by how you are competing, it is bigger than you.

    As an economist you are familiar with exogenous shocks? The world will not wait for 166 square mile place to get with the program.

  17. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    Science North gets $2M to teach computer coding skills

    http://www.thesudburystar.com/2018/01/23/science-north-get-2m-to-teach-computer-coding-skills

  18. David Avatar
    David

    You mean like Maloney?

  19. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    @ David
    Was Prime Minister Mottley deputy prime minister for three terms? Was
    Prime Minister once minister of education? Was she nice minister of economic affairs? Is she not one of the longest serving members of parliament?
    Why are we pretending that any or all of what the PM is new?
    Pleeeeease!!

  20. Bernard Codrington Avatar
    Bernard Codrington

    @ David BU at 10 :57 AM

    We as a country are not late to the party at all.

    Since the late 1960’s the GOB of Barbados accounts and statistics were processed electronically by the Data Processing Department.
    With the improvements in computer technology, there is a distributed system and smaller but more powerful computers. Even in the maligned court system the manner of recording court proceedings was speeded up. Of course there were technical hitches at the human resource level. There are costs to transition.

    There are Barbadian programmers and system engineers working at leading computer and computerized companies of world wide reach. So we are not late at all. Sometimes the truth does not make an interesting story ,does it ?

  21. David Avatar
    David

    What is new William is that she is prime minister.

    What is new is that she is prime minister at this juncture in history.

    We have to assume that experience accrued to date and epiphany moments along the way MAY determine a satisfactory result?

  22. Well, Well Avatar
    Well, Well

    As with everything else when you are behind in everything, Coding has already started to morph from 8 years ago when Jones was advised to get with the program..

    It has already been around for 20 years, to play catchup, you have to be flexible before that bubble bursts…the young person I spoke about, already has plans to move on to new age technological skills, in their still very lucrative career..

    .no one is waiting for Barbados to play catch up, no one has the time, they already missed that boat, but coding skills are still very useful to be used as a stepping stone to even better careers in the global corridor……all the top coders already cornered the market…worldwide..

    Jones should have seized the opportunity when that young person had to vision to take up the discipline.

  23. Well, Well Avatar
    Well, Well

    And for those who still don’t get it…coding is not a stagnated to Barbados career…it embraces and encompasses borders and financial currencies..in other words, if you are a top coder, you command top dollar in top countries in the currency of your choice.

    I will not exhaust myself any further explaining, but it is not a career to shackle the coder to any one company or country as is the norm on the island…it is way above and beyond that slave creepiness.

  24. Well, Well Avatar
    Well, Well

    As to how the island benefits….significantly is the only word to describe the benefits from the foreign exchange because that particular person never forgot that though it was a small contribution from the taxpayers, it was a contribution nonetheless and the taxpayers deserve to benefit for as along as possible..even if they do not live on the island permanently.

  25. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    There is a lot of work to be done!!!!!

    http://gisbarbados.gov.bb/?s=vacancies+in+the+public+sector

  26. FearPlay Avatar
    FearPlay

    It’s not that difficult to learn how to code. The attached should help some of us old fogies here with nothing better to do to join the revolution and stay current with technology. https://www.apple.com/everyone-can-code/
    Regard the offer made by Mr Williams to outfit the IDC building with photovoltaic – all I can say is “Mr Williams is willing to put his money where his mouth is”, which is better than those whom are quick to criticize his generosity.

  27. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    Mail or Fax ?

    ” Register with the Barbados Consulate at Toronto
    If you reside in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) you may wish to be included in the Consulate’s Registry of Barbadians in Canada. If so, please complete this form and mail or fax it to the Consulate General of Barbados at Toronto.”

    https://www.barbadosintoronto.com/

    I am a Barbadian and think I have a right to complain with the hope that somebody will ” hurry up and fix it “.

  28. Bernard Codrington Avatar
    Bernard Codrington

    David at 11:18 AM

    David you personalized it . Please reread your submission. In my response I generalized it. The” we” was not majestic.
    The point I am making is that we are already there. IFT is a work in progress. Like all man made contrivances they do malfunction, in Barbados and else where in this digital world.

    IFT costs money. That is the reason why commercial banks charge customers ledger fees.
    Does the costs of manually processing a savings account exceed the costs of semi- processing digitally. And who is benefiting?

    The bottom line, for me at least, is Barbados should introduce technology when it improves our welfare not because someone wants to play a catch up game with the rest of the world….. wherever he perceives that to be.

    Whuh Loss. When we are not trying to catch up with Singapore ; we trying to catch up with India. I cannot believe my eyes.

  29. Well, Well Avatar
    Well, Well

    I am sure it is someone who knows nothing about coding, except what they read somewhere will claim it is not difficult….but yet, ah bet they are not a coder or cryptographer…and will not even know what to do if offered a job as either in the real world of coding or cryptography with the geniuses who code for whole countries, governments and conglomerates …ah guess cryptography is not difficult either…

    Bizzy is putting the people’s stolen money where his mouth is in the hopes to get another opportunity at their money again when the economy starts to recover…as is the norm…

  30. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    Barbados ” Edutech ” was a great concept that I am told was a failure.

    This ” program to train the youth of Barbados to write computer code, web design and other technology related programs”

    is a great concept and I hope it is successful .

  31. Bernard Codrington Avatar
    Bernard Codrington

    @ Hants at12:18 PM

    I hope so too. Lord havest mercy!

  32. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    @ Bernard Codrington; @ David

    Bernard, you are correct. I know as a civil servant back in the very early 70’s , there was some training to bring some departments up to speed. I know at least one very prominent citizen, also a test cricketer, who was highly respected in this area. I think we dropped the ball by being reluctant to fully embrace the information highway.
    However, in all fairness to David , we believe that the world has to dance to our tune. Even in tourism , we tend to believe that we alone have blue waters, excellent beaches and sunny skies.
    For example ,and this is very hilarious, some of us believe that we are going to tell the IMF what to do . It is quite the reverse: the IMF will hear what we want and then it will tell us what we are supposed to do if we want its help.
    My biggest fear now is that information is going to be so marketed and controlled , that we would not know if it is offbreak or googly.
    It looks as if we are now into newspeak and doublespeak. We have perhaps gone from no communication to facing Lance Gibbs……….the shadows at the Oval are lengthening and we have to watch the delivery very carefully.

  33. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    Talk de tings dem Mottley-redevelopment and re-purposing of our industrial estates. Check the manifesto if wunna doubt me. #dowunnaresearchb4yapping

  34. T.Inniss Avatar
    T.Inniss

    William

    Your post has drawn me out to respond.

    Let me first say I agree entirely with your post @ 1:00 p.m.

    The two key points are:

    1) on the question of telling the IMF what we want them to do;

    2) This current situation where information is marketed and controlled – ( hence the use of the fella from the Republic of China)

    I was astounded to see that people are already swallowing the typical bite -size absurdity sent down by Mottley that “whatever decision is taken it will not be driven by what the IMF deem necessary but what was good for Barbados.”

    Tell me again what the Spider said to the Fly: ‘Come into my parlour said the spider to the fly’

    Now just like you and I know, that suggestion is really and truly ‘unadulterated nonsense’ – there are others on this very site and many out in the public sphere whether academics,commentators,economists,political scientists,ordinary students of history – who all know you can’t dictate to the IMF that they must follow your agenda.

    You can suggest,and I am sure they will politely listen but at the end of the day you want their money AND YOU HAVE ALREADY DEFAULTED ON YOUR DEBTS – SO YOU ARE IN DUCKS GUTS – WHERE BORROWING IS CONCERNED.

    You see that other point about controlling information ? All I can tell you is that I keep hearing Gabby calypso in my ears – One Day The People Will Wake Up.

    This insidious plan that has already taken root while SOME people are dazzled with bright lights and press conferences – will be to Barbados detriment if not stopped in its tracks.

  35. T.Inniss Avatar
    T.Inniss

    I keep asking myself – why if you have 30 – o in the house,and you have 5 years to put things in place – why the rush to make certain changes before these matters are properly studied and discussions in all different forums and not only Town Hall meetings which are notoriously shunned are undertaken?

    You are not hearing about an Economic Plan

    You are not hearing about a legislative plan or schedule

    You are not hearing about any new or innovative ways to earn foreign exchange

    You haven’t told us any real details about the state of the economy

    I don’t know but I just sense the whole idea is to look so busy and though you have hit the ground running – when in truth and in fact – you are running on one spot.Sigh

  36. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    I still would like to know where TInniss was before May 24th? Did we miraculously get where we are now on on 25 May? #canttekunnaseriously

  37. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    @David the blogmaster “Especially coming a few days after the revelation that the prime minister’s office did not have Internet access up to a few days ago.”

    How can this be? When a poor rakey person like me has had internet access at home since the early 90’s or whenever it was that internet first became available in Barbados.

    Are you seriously telling me that Sandi, Owen, Davis, Freundel, and perhaps even Mia did not have at their office what even people like me who live in the ghettoes have had a home for a whole generation?

    I’ve got adult children who have NEVER lived in a house without internet.

    Why? Why? Why?

  38. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    Does anybody remember the internet search engine Alta Vista?

  39. Well, Well Avatar
    Well, Well

    Yeah..is it the one, another Bajan scholar, his name escapes me, who invented it…

    it is a shame to see the stagnating effect of the practice of the 2 governments, now one, over the years …sucking the life out of everything positive around the people ….to accede to those who do not want to see progress, growth,productivity or wealth in the majority population…Mia is likely to try, but what about those around her.

    That is the blight and curse holding back the island’s progress..

    Sad that these geniuses and scholars exist and the more recent ones do not want anyone on the island to know who they are…that is a serious indictment on the social construct that needs dismantling in it’s vulgarity..

  40. David Avatar
    David

    @William

    Barbados is in no position to dictate to anybody. We need the drawdown on SDRs like yesterday. We have no Rh foreign reserves to service foreign obligations. That incompetent lot that formed the last government were unable to engender confidence by stakeholders which resulted in leaking of forex. Leaders are suppose to win the support of those they have charge over. We have seen the return of a little confidence and this was reflected somewhat in the standing roof only at Sherbourne yesterday. The plaudits Mottley received in Jamaica. Some Bajan pride resurfaced. We have to give Mottley time, we have to wish she and her government success, we do not have anymore lifelines. The political sniping thankfully is with a minority. The majority of Barbadians have resigned that we will have to suck it up for a while longer. Hopefully not another ten years!

  41. FearPlay Avatar
    FearPlay

    His name is Alan Emtage, son of Sir Stephen and Lady Emtage. Harrison College 1975 – 1983. Barbados Scholar.

  42. Well, Well Avatar
    Well, Well

    yep..that’s the dude, since him they have been so many others, many off whom had to stay off island to save their sanity and preserve their genius, inventions, right to progress…etc.

  43. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    I am convinced that the public , I do not mean the die hard Bees and Dees, we have had “Enuff” of them , will be supportive of the current lot, in the interest of the country. However I suspect that the same public will soon grow tired of fluff .
    Thev30-0 decimation, is actually, in real political terms, a two edged sword: the government will get A grades for what they do right and X grades for what the public perceives as wrong. There is no Opposition to blame. The same would be true if the Dems has all 30 seats.
    The apologists for the government, I hate the term yardfowls, will soon learn this harsh political reality.
    What we have here is a great opportunity for progressive national discourse by those who put country before party.
    While the Dems have been fully decimated; the Bees are now fully exposed.
    A day in politics is a very long time. If you doubt that ask Bishop Atherley.
    Five years is about a thousand life times.
    The shadows at the Oval are lengthening…….. watch the delivery.

  44. David Avatar
    David

    @William

    What should concede us is the inability of so-called third parties to have traction in a climate that is fertile.

  45. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    William Skinner

    Heard your contribution on “Brass Tacks” and I agree with you 100%.

    I recall the DLP releasing a youth manifesto during the 2008 election campaign…..at a youth rally, while attempting to woo them with a dub fete.

    Unfortunately, the DEMS have not fulfilled any of those promises.

    The BLP, on the other hand, has not articulated any definitive policies for the youth either.

    Both BLP and DLP politicians remember the youth only during election time, when they rush to organize night cricket and football tournaments, to the youth the impression they have their interest at heart.

    Is there a PDF version of the NDP’s manifesto online for the public’s perusal?

  46. David Avatar
    David

    Have you seen the backpage of today’s Nation newspaper?

  47. T.Inniss Avatar
    T.Inniss

    It is clear that there is a deliberate by some here to put a political DLP sticker on any commentary that does not put in ‘glowing terms’ anything that Mia and this government is doing.They are in Luv.

    The truth is when Barbados succeeds everyone succeeds – but the same people who are telling us lets all join hands together for country were not saying so a mere 2 months ago – and chief among them was Mia Mottley who went the length and breadth of this region and internationally painting Barbados in a negative light and portraying Barbados as a dump heap. Remember how they ridicule Thompson’s and the DLP’s plea for barbadians to wrap themselves in the Barbadian flag and work towards the good of the country.

    I well remember in February 2010 when David Estwick – then Minister of Economic Affairs – suggested that a wage freeze is necessary to help reduce government expenditure, that Mia Mottley said No – Government should freeze the Fat not the Wages.

    Now we seeing all the fat in the 26 ministers and over 15 consultants and/or Tsars being increased and the poor pensioners and single mothers experiencing the freeze.

    Now the message going forth from the BLP has changed and we are hearing that Barbados is a great place to invest.

    But I want to remind those who may have attended their youth meetings at Church to bring to rememberance when you were told the Bible story about the Watchman on the wall in Israel.

    I looked it up and I found it in Ezekiel 33 -2

    “Son of man,give your people this message:When I bring an army against a country,the people of that land choose a watchman.

    When the Watchman sees the enemy coming,he blows the alarm to warn the people.Then if those who hear the alarm refuse to take action – well it is their own fault if they die”.

    We the people of Barbados, are all called to the position of watchman,but the said ones who are labelling every cautionary comment here as yardfowls or political snipers – will I hope wake up and take guard before it is too late.

  48. David Avatar
    David

    And this is the point, for whatever reason the DLP was not able to move the country forward. This is a question the party will have to answer as it reinvents itself. You should note that the electorate gave the DLP the opportunity in 2013 to get it right albeit with a reduced majority.

  49. T.Inniss Avatar
    T.Inniss

    My initial post on this blog was only to agree with William Skinner on 2 points

    1) The nonsense spouted by Mottley that she can set the agenda for the IMF; and

    2) The point about controlled and market communication which is also spot on

    What about those 2 points raised and agreed upon makes it DLP political sniping?

  50. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    It never ceases to amaze me how “some on here” rush to quote the Bible and attempt to incorporate the scriptures with their political agenda.

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