09th January 2010
GEN-X LAUNCHED
STAN BISHOP

Local construction company owner Rayneau Gajadhar says the next great business idea is just one thought away. In fact, he says he has an up to $50,000 start-up capital grant to prove it.
Gajadhar’s company, Construction and Industrial Equipment Ltd. (CIE Ltd.), launched a new business-focused initiative, GEN-X, last Thursday morning which, the company says, is poised to transform great ideas into limitless economic rewards and entrepreneurial skills.
At the press launch held at the NIC Conference Room, Gajadhar began his presentation by holding up a sealed brown carton with EC$100 notes on each side and asking the audience to describe what they observed. Ideas trickled in but soon came fast and furious when Gajadhar offered to reward the person with the best description with $5000.
“This is just what we’re trying to do: we want to encourage people not to look inside the box. You saw how heavy it was? But we want you, instead, to look outside the box because outside of the box (the reward) is unlimited. That is exactly what we’re trying to show,” Gajadhar said.
The RG Group of Companies boss, who also owns CIE Ltd. said that in the current fast-paced, ever-changing global environment, the time has come to encourage people to, nevertheless, have a positive outlook on business by especially creating theirs. With the taglines “Discovering Entrepreneurs Generation Next” and “Thinking Outside The Box,” GEN-X will provide up to EC$50,000 in seed money to fund genuine and rare business ideas so that they are transformed into business enterprises.
The venture is targeting persons within the 18-35-year-old demographic and applicants to the programme must suitably meet certain benchmarks, Gajadhar added. The businessman, whose business roots lie in him being a former ice cream vendor, said those who have made some level of success, need to also pay it forward.
“How far have we moved? How far can we go? Have we as the older ones moved with the times? I’m sure we haven’t. But you know what we must do? We must encourage the younger ones to see how fast time is moving and how much opportunity there is because of all those innovations that are coming up, to come up with new ideas to make things better and easier,” Gajadhar said.
According to officials of the company, the main aim of GEN-X is a three-pronged approach: changing attitudes, adjusting mindsets, and helping to extract the full potential of the individual. And here’s how the process works.