Seminar Helps Entrepreneurs Fail Fast & Pivot
On Wednesday, July 17th the Bermuda Economic Development Corporation [BEDC] hosted a seminar to help entrepreneurs learn how to fail fast, pivot quickly and bounce back after failure.
The seminar, held at BUEI, saw 50 attendees made up of business owners, new entrepreneurs, and others, who listened and learned from an experienced group of panellists that talked frankly about failing in business.
Delight Morris, BEDC 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.
Moderator and BEDC MSME Officer, Donte Hunt introduced the panelist who then shared their experiences. Attendees asked questions and engaged in discussions that served to guide those from the point of failure into success.
Panelist Dakia O’Brien, owner of Wild Wing Wednesday, was first to share her touching story of growing her business organically, expanding into a restaurant only to have to close. Her honest testimony of fighting to overcome the emotional toll that failing took on her was inspiring.
Beau Evans, owner of Cruise Port Ferry Management Ltd., followed with his humorous story which included the building of a submarine and how that journey took a huge financial toll on him. Beau said his saving grace was making the decision to stop everything at the right time and being honest with vendors, staff and family regarding the real financial situation.
Leon Bascome, owner of Moongate Insurance Group opened his testimonial with a quote from Winston Churchill stating that “Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” He went on to share some of the challenges he has faced offering insurance services in Bermuda and illustrated how it was necessary for him to pivot in order to ensure the sustainability of his business.
Joy Rothwell, Owner of Robertson’s Drugstore stated that her ability to survive the fire that closed her business down for months was due to support from her family, friends and the community.
Finally, Tulani Bulford, co-owner of Portland Lane Capital, told attendees how at 17 years old he experienced success early on in retail and became “too arrogant” to recognize a change and competition in the market which ultimately led to his failure. He shared that this experience helped to teach him a lot about himself and has resulted in him being more reflective and open to feedback.
Closing the seminar, BEDC Executive Director, Erica Smith thanked the panelists for being so open, adding that “it is not easy to get up in front of people and share your experiences, especially when they are of failure.”
She also thanked the audience for their participation and continuing to provide the feedback and support that BEDC needs to move Bermuda’s local businesses forward.
The Fail Fast, Pivot Quickly, Bounce Back seminar was designed to “give entrepreneurs insight on what it is like to fail, teach them how to learn from failure and provide them with firsthand experiences that outline what it takes to turn that failure into future success” said BEDC Officer, Donte Hunt.
Most of the attendees surveyed agreed that the seminar was very informative, with one participant suggesting holding the seminar again in the evening. “People felt that discussing how to come back from failure or how to pivot when something is not working was needed, and appreciated the candidness and realness of the panelists,” stated Director Erica Smith.
The Seminar was the second in the series of BEDC quarterly seminars. The next seminar will be held on September 18th and will focus on establishing work-life balance techniques. For more information on this seminar and BEDC’s upcoming seminars, please contact BEDC at info@bedc.bm or visit the BEDC website at www.bedc.bm.
