50 People Attend “Successful Vendor” Seminar

April 30, 2015

On Thursday, April 29th, fifty people attended the final seminar on being a successful vendor and were treated with new ideas that could help to revitalise the local vendor industry.

The Bermuda Economic Development Corporation held the last of a series of workshops aimed at helping vendors to take their business to the next level.

Raymond Lambert, Economic Development Officer for St. George’s shared over five new opportunities in the vending industry that local vendors can take advantage of. Most notably were the ideas of using free material like driftwood and palm leaves to make products for resale and creating more products from Bermuda’s natural treasures.

Left-Right: Mark Wade, BFA; Raymond Lambert, BEDC; Marita Hinds, Hidden Treasures; William Spriggs, BEDC; Kim Jackson, Change by Us Inititative; Chris Dill, Spectropay

Presenters  Group Photo

Mr Lambert stated that it is time for vendors to accept that they are business owners. He stated “vending is entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship is empowerment.”

Continuing on the theme of empowerment presenters from various markets across the West End including Dockyard and Somerset shared how to take advantage of their existing markets to address issues such as job loss and the overall economic decline. Marita Hinds of Hidden Treasures Market in Somerset stated “our goal is to provide people with options to either supplement or replace their income. We are here to help you.”

Rebekah Cabrall, Marketing Coordinator for WEDCO noted that they are also interested in assisting vendors and have two options to vend, seasonal vending and event vending. Rebekah directed attendees to visit the website www.the westend.bm for more information. She advised that while Destination Dockyard is not on the Calendar for this season “there are daily and weekly events that encourage shopping in the West End.”

The focus of this final seminar was all about opportunities and Mark Wade, Volunteer for the BFA came prepared to entice. Mark opened with an exciting video of beach football and how utilisation of some of Bermuda’s most natural and plentiful resources, the beaches, can be the ticket to new business opportunities.

He said “Beach soccer creates opportunities for vendors because attendees to these scheduled events need everything that vendors sell.” He went on to state that the BFA is currently looking for entrepreneurs who are willing to manage events and are accepting proposals.

Following the theme of utilising Bermuda’s beaches, William Spriggs, Economic Development Officer for the Somerset Economic Empowerment Zone and Kim Jackson working with the Change by Us Initiative have partnered to revitalize Long Bay Beach and Mangrove Bay Beach. Kim indicated that the SEEZ / Change by Us partnership are looking for event planning entrepreneurs interested in learning more about their Moonlight Evening events which will be held from 6pm – 10pm with the first event planned for the first full moon at the end of June. Kim suggested that there may be a way to incorporate the BFA’s beach football into the event as well and encouraged all to follow up with her to submit proposals.

William shared that the Mangrove Bay development initiative is an ongoing project that requires the support of the community and the Government. He advised attendees that there are plans in place to refurbish the beach and invited all to attend a public information session on May 19th from 6pm – 8:30pm in Somerset to learn specifically how to get involved.

The highlight of the evening was the presentation from Chris Dill, CEO of SpectroPay a mobile device that allows vendors to accept credit and debit card payments. Chris stated that “in a US survey 80% of people use debit cards for purchasing versus 14% that use cash.” He continued, using SpectroPay gives vendors a competitive advantage and also prepares vendors for future forms of payment like Apple and Google Pay. Pretty soon, Chris said, “cash and checks will be obsolete.”

Erica Smith BEDC, Executive Director, closed the seminar by reminding attendees that the BEDC’s Microloan product offered in partnership with Clarien Bank, allows qualified candidates to get a 100% guaranteed loan of up to $7,500 in low interest financing which can assist with the purchase of products and or capital items needed to operate their businesses.

Erica also reminded attendees that a Certificate of Completion will be awarded that attended all three of the series held at the World Heritage Centre Auditorium on Wednesday April 1st, Part 2, Making Money at Vending held on April 16 at the BIU and this final seminar.

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  1. mj says:

    interesting…”cash and cheques will be obsolete”, like to here from monetary authorities and banks on that, and how soon… by the way the seminar was held on wednesday april 29th, today is thursday.. hope there will be further vendor opportunites or information . thanks