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Premier Cox hosts breakfast with Business Bermuda Essay Contestants

Premier advice; Winners of the Bermuda International Business Association, pictured here with Premier Paula Cox and BIBA representatives shared their thoughts on what Bermuda’s ecconomic future should look like. They met with Premier Cox at a breakfast meeting held at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess last week.

This year, over 100 students from schools across the Island submitted essays for the Business Bermuda Essay Contest.Each essay was presented as a 500-word letter to Premier Paula Cox, discussing Bermuda’s current economic state under the title “I want to ensure our future financial security, and this is how I suggest we can help Bermuda stimulate the economy….”Some standout ideas included a proposition for establishing the University of Bermuda, installing more tourist-friendly attractions on the Island such as water and theme parks, installing popular casino and promoting the well known Marxist ideology that would idealistically lead to Island-wide wealth.Out of over 100 entries from the Berkeley Institute, Sandys Secondary Middle School, Bermuda College, CedarBridge Academy and Bermuda High School for Girls, eight students were selected to receive prizes and recognition for their efforts.First Place went to Stevona Daniels of the Berkeley Institute, who suggested that businesses should be taxed based on their revenue intake in order to be properly fair to business owners during Bermuda’s economic struggle.Second Place went to Shobhitha Balasubramanian of Sandys Middle School; the 13-year-old considered both economic and ecological issues in Bermuda and suggested that renewable energy resources be used in order to reduce the costs of electricity.Brittney Ferreira of Bermuda High School for Girls came in third, stating that Bermuda’s economic welfare depended also on the establishment of Government-operated casinos, which would undoubtedly have a positive effect on Bermuda’s tourism industry.Honourable mention went to Jai-Onni Outerbridge of Sandys Secondary Middle School, Bakari Simons of the Berkeley Institute, Shaena Simons of the Berkeley Institute, Andrew Fleming of CedarBridge Academy, and Israel Sanchez of CedarBridge Academy.On Thursday March 3, the eight students were invited to a private breakfast at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess where they were given the chance to discuss their ideas with Premier Paula Cox and ask the questions that they feel are necessary to be able to find a solution to the economic problem.In response to a question from Andrew Fleming regarding possible business opportunities in the future, Premier Cox predicted that “industries for the future are going to be those that are seen as more innovative and cutting edge”.Premier Cox also mentioned how most opportunities for businesses in the future will most likely revolve around the technology industries, as well as those industries that deal with climate and environmental issues.