Over 60 People Attend BEDC Business Seminar
Over sixty people — including potential and existing business owners — attended Bermuda Economic Development Corporation’s evening seminar focused on helping new start-up businesses understand what is required to start up in Bermuda.
Craig Tyrrell, BEDC’s Board Member, welcomed attendees by encouraging them to take advantage of the information that would be shared with them at the seminar and to use it to help them avoid some of the missteps that could occur when building a business.
He indicated that the seminar included a comprehensive line-up of presenters in varies areas including: Government Departments, Insurance, Banking, Accounting, Intellectual Property, Legal, Human Resources, Marketing, and Entrepreneurial Testimonials.
Ron Pinder, Colina Outerbridge, Bianca Harris, Tanya Hatherly, Kathleen Moniz, Tariq Somner, Stephan Johnstone, Janice Gutteridge, and Linda Cook
Divided into two parts, the first part of the seminar focused on the Government obligations that included Payroll Tax, Social Insurance; Banking, Accounting, Insurance and Intellectual Property.
This part focused on the presentations from Tomiko Pacheco and Doreen Robinson, Tax Inspectors for the Office of the Tax Commissioner, who gave an overview of the Tax registration process; Carla Martin, Relationship Manager at Clarien Bank who shared what the Bank looks for when considering whether to fund a business; while Tanya Hatherley and Jean Charles-Prentice, Compliance Inspectors from the Department of Social Insurance discussed the importance of all employers making the required weekly $71.84 contributions for employees.
In addition, Wilfred Gonsalves, Financial Advisor at BF&M gave a brief overview of the types of insurances that small business owners should consider; an overview using the numbers to validate the business was provided by Colina Outerbridge, BEDC’s Business Data & Policy Analyst and closing out Part 1 was Ron Pinder, Manager IP of the Registrar General Office who gave an enthusiastic presentation on the types of Intellectual Property that exists and how to use it to protect your brand.
Linda Cook
Part two of the evening included presentations from Janice Gutteridge and Kathleen Moniz, Senior Associates at Cox Hallett Wilkinson who discussed the difference between the types of company formations and benefits of each; Bianca Harris, Asst. VP Human Resource Manager at AIG and Entrepreneur shared best practices or identifying the right employee; Stephan Johnstone, founder of SJD World provided basic considerations for marketing your business inclusive of website, social media and business collateral.
Rounding out all the presentations from industry experts were presentations from entrepreneurs Jekon Edness and Tariq Somner co-owners of Blue Rock construction and online entrepreneur Linda Cook co-owner of Soltrino and Little Longtails.
All entrepreneurs encouraged attendees to pursue their passions, Mr. Somner said “don’t wait, even though it may be hard, being an entrepreneur is rewarding.”
Mrs. Cook shared that “an online business requires the same focus as a brick and mortar store but focus on banking and the business plan first.” She continued, echoing the sentiment from Mr. Pinder, “when contracting a web developer, make sure that you maintain ownership of your intellectual property including your web address and website.”
Jekon Edness and Tariq Somner
Closing the seminar, Executive Director, Erica Smith advised the the seminar was designed to give them an overview of what was required to start their businesses right and to introduce them to the key industry players that can help them start up.
Most of the attendees surveyed agreed that the seminar was very informative, with one participant remarking that they liked the variety of input and it was well rounded information session to get started. Another attendee remarked that the information provided great guidance”.
Colina Outerbridge, co-facilitator of the seminar stated “It was important for us to provide as much information as we could to existing and potential entrepreneurs to ensure that they are aware of what is required to legally operate a business in Bermuda.” She continued, “Although this seminar was only 2 and half hours, BEDC is available to provide further guidance and support throughout the year.”
For more information on this seminar and our upcoming seminars, please contact BEDC at info@bedc.bm or visit the BEDC website at www.bedc.bm.
