The Tribune

By ALESHA CADET

Tribune Features Reporter

acadet@tribunemedia.net

As his mentorship initiative continues to grow, Bahamian gospel singer and motivational speaker Ricardo Clarke last week hosted an event to show young Bahamian men a better path in life.

The “Mission Male Seed” event attracted more than 70 young men from various communities and featured speakers that helped educate them on pertinent issues.

Strongly believing in the old adage that it takes a village to raise a child, Mr Clarke is continuing to promote his mentorship programme called Occupy.

Launched by Mr Clarke and a number of other local professionals, the self-development programme seeks to shape character, teach discipline, foster business acumen and promote health within the youth. Last week’s event offered sessions under the theme “Taking My Rightful Place.”

Speakers included entrepreneur Geron Sands, who took on the topics “Conflict Resolution” and “Don’t Throw It Away”; Olympic silver medallist Andretti Bain, who spoke on the “Discipline” and “The Bridge To Achievement”; banker Demitri Bowe on “Identity” and “Knowing Who You Are”; and Mr Clarke himself on “Peer Pressure” and “Thinking for Yourself”. Highlights of the programme also included a visit to the National Art Gallery and the D’Aguilar Foundation.

“Hopefully with all that’s happening with young men locally this can be highlighted to show that some positive things are being done to show the young men a better path. The goal is to show them where they can possibly be in life and that is why we encourage them to take their rightful place, because there are so many places that you can be in the world,” said Mr Clarke.

“We believe that we can be a network or platform... We have a tremendous amount of persons who have come on board who are educated, skilled and leading in various areas that will be a part of the programme. We have industries like the arts, business, health and wellness, as well as education that are all represented in the programme.”