L – R, President of Rotaract Club of East Nassau, Taran Mackey; Alanna Rodgers; Anthony Ferguson, CFA, MCSI, CIArb; Dianne Phillips, Barry Rassin, Adrian Forsythe, Vice President of Rotaract Club of East Nassau

Nassau, Bahamas - On October 3, 2013 at The Nassau Yacht Club, The Rotaract Club of East Nassau hosted its Second Annual Entrepreneurship Panel Discussion, “I Am My Own Boss: Bahamian Entrepreneurship”, under the directorship of Vice President / Professional Development Director, Adrian Forsythe. This event was sponsored by Bahamas Wholesale Agencies (BWA), Scotiabank (Bahamas) Limited and Lickety Split Ice Cream & Deli. The aim of this event was to assist individuals in idea generation and business development by allowing a panel of successful entrepreneurs to give advice on various aspects of creating and sustaining business in The Bahamas.

The moderator of the event was Dianne Phillips, Founder and President of Dianne Phillips & Associates, who streamlined the evening and coordinated the topics discussed. The speakers included Mr. Barry Rassin, President of Doctors Hospital; Mr. Anthony Ferguson, CFA, MCSI, CIArb, President of CFAL and President/Publisher of The Guardian Media Group; and Ms. Alanna Rodgers, Founder and Chief Culinary Ambassador of Tru Bahamian Food Tours and Founder and Director of Hands For Hunger. Each speaker represented a professional in a different and unique sector and era in Bahamian entrepreneurship. The speakers went into detail, sharing their experiences of developing, planning for, growing, and maintaining their businesses. The guests were more than excited to hear these stories, which could be seen by the questions they presented to the speakers. The speakers held nothing back in answering, sometimes giving very personal responses to assist the budding entrepreneurs that attended the event.

President Taran Mackey and Vice President Adrian Forsythe were very pleased with the response and attendance. They both shared that individuals should look out for the Third Annual event next year. Additionally, on November 21, 2013 at the same venue, the club intends to hold its first Women In the Workplace Panel Discussion.