Premier Brantley urges Nevis parents to embrace ASPIRE, empower youth with EC$1000 savings

St Kitts and Nevis: Premier of Nevis Mark Brantley advocated for the ASPIRE Program and invited parents in Nevis to apply for it. 

The ASPIRE Program is a financial education, savings and investment program that is aimed at preparing the children of St Kitts and Nevis to build successful financial futures. Under this, each child between the age of 5 to 18 will be eligible for EC$1000 contribution from the government.  

Under this program, EC$1000 will be divided into two parts for each child as EC$5000 will be held in a savings account at St Kitts Nevis Anguilla National Bank while EC$5000 will be invested in shares of local and government owned entities.  

Further, it will be coupled with financial education to be provided in each school across St Kitts and Nevis. 

This program is the first of its kind in the Caribbean region and is exclusive to St Kitts and Nevis.  

Taking to Facebook, Premier Brantley urged the parents to apply for it and noted, “I am begging the parents of Nevis to take the time to apply and allow their children to benefit from this incredible initiative.” 

This comes as the government of St Kitts and Nevis officially launched the ASPIRE program as part of a revolutionary effort to inculcate financial literacy in the youth and allow the people to start creating wealth. 

While sharing the data, Premier Brantley noted that so far only 512 applications have been received from Nevis and of those only 211 have been approved as some are missing information or waiting or verification. 

On the other hand, in St Kitts some 2,652 applications have been filed with some 1,066 already approved. It means that Kittitians are applying at 5 times the rate of Nevisians. 

This is why the Premier took time to urge the Nevisian parents to apply for this initiative and allow their children to be part of the change.  

Premier Brantley lauds PM Terrance Drew for launching ASPIRE 

Even during the recent Parliament session, Mark Brantley lauded Prime Minister Dr Terrance Drew for launching this historic program that will allow each child of St Kitts and Nevis to understand the significance of savings and investment.  

He recognised that, “Social Security stands today as one of the most, if not the most important institution in our country.” 

While expressing his initial scepticism about the program, Brantley noted, “When the honorable minister of finance said he can give every child a $1,000, I was sceptical. I'm not afraid to admit it. This is maybe confession time. I said, man, this sound like foolishness. And I held that view quite firmly for some time until I saw for the first time, and I want to go on record to commend the cabinet secretary Dr Marcus Natta.” 

“Because Dr Natta journeyed to Nevis. He sat in the cabinet of the Nevis Island Administration that I am currently privileged to lead. And when he was done explaining the work that had gone into this aspire bill and the intentions behind it, the policy, I had to admit that I was wrong and that my earlier scepticism was misplaced. Perhaps it's less than that. You must not be sceptical unless you first give a chance to know,” he added.  

The Premier emphasised that if the program will be implemented as planned, it has the power to transform St Kitts and Nevis in a way that one perhaps cannot even now imagine.  

ASPIRE Program 

The ASPIRE program was officially launched in St Kitts and Nevis on November 29 and hundreds of parents and guardians from the island nation visited the Independence Square to register their children for the same.  

Not only this, but an official ASPIRE Act has also been launched in the constitution to recognise this program as one of the most important aspects of the Federation.  

This new act provides for the establishment of the ASPIRE Fund as well as the ASPIRE council to execute the program and achieve success through personal investment, resources and education.