NDFD training program boosts skills

The teller of the Woodfordhill Credit Union, Tessea Joseph is boasting  about having improved her communication techniques, after participating in training provided by the National Development Foundation of Dominica (NDFD).

She says she also improved her “customer relation skills, also I developed some negotiation skills, I have a better approach to different situations now” and is today a better team player.

The Credit Union employee was among 58 young Dominicans who participated in training workshops conducted by the NDFD in the areas of effective communication, sales and marketing, and business continuity after a disaster.

They were presented with completion certificates at a function on Friday.

Another participant – Errol Thomas, who did the sales and marketing programme, told the graduating ceremony that his group had been able to form two companies, one called Quality Homes Construction, and another intended to produce healthy juices.

Course facilitator Elizabeth Wayland was able to explain that this was no idle boast by displaying a sample bottle of the proposed “juice”.

Thomas tongue-in-cheek warned NDFD Executive Director Ronald Knight that he had probably stirred up a hornet’s nest by providing participants with this latest  opportunity – Knight was told that the Foundation would be called on to help develop a business plan for the product and come up with the funding.

While it was all in good fun, the exchange did underscore just how serious participants appeared to have taken the training ran by facilitators Wayland, Kathy Robinson-Pond and Kathleen Pinard-Byrne.

According to NDFD boss Knight, his organization runs an average of 15 training courses a year, benefiting an estimated 500 participants.

Knight says the Foundation is doing its bit to contribute to a more effective workforce in the country in an attempt to boost productivity.

Below, Oliver Henderson, treasurer of NDFD, hands certificates to some of the participants.