Standing in the front row from left to right are BTVI Dean of Student Services, Racquel C. Bethel; Bahamas Agile and Project Management Community Member, Sophia R. Walker; BTVI’s Project Management Instructor, Stacy Mackey and Internal Security Services Manager, Barry Smith. Standing in the back row from left to right are BTVI Information Technology Head of Department, Kevin McCartney; Project Management Institute Founder, Lee R. Lambert; Bahamas Agile and Project Management Community Founder, Andrea Pratt-Smith; BTVI’s Interim President, Dr. Linda A. Davis and Professional Development Course Coordinator, Paulette Richardson.
The Bahamas Agile and Project Management Community (BAPMC) recently paid a courtesy call on the Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute (BTVI) to discuss how the pair can support each other in increasing The Bahamas’ number of trained professionals and helping more individuals recognise the value of being certified.
The courtesy call came as one of the founders of the Project Management Institute’s (PMI) Project Management Professional (PMP) certification, Lee R. Lambert, visited the country for a seminar hosted by BAPMC in conjunction with The American Corner and University of The Bahamas’ College of Business.
Mr. Lambert, a PMI fellow, has over 50 years of project management experience and is considered one of the world’s thought leaders on project management methods and how they can be utilised to create and sustain value added leadership and collaboration capabilities.
He emphasised that trained and certified Bahamians can translate to less dependence on foreign talent.
“It is so critical to the growth of The Bahamas to have the skillset to do jobs readily available,” Mr. Lambert said.
Local project manager, Andrea Pratt-Smith, founded the Bahamas Agile and Project Management Community to help project management professionals and those interested in joining the profession, regardless of methodology or framework, to upskill and excel. The membership organisation is committed to providing educational opportunities, community events and meetups, updates on current project management trends and industry best practices.
BTVI Interim President, Dr. Linda A. Davis, expressed appreciation to Mr. Lambert and BAPMC members, and expressed interest in continuing a fruitful dialogue regarding partnerships between BAPMC and BTVI.
“Thank you for including BTVI in your itineary of special events this week. You have certainly opened our eyes to a number of opportunities for the training of not only BTVI students but our internal management team” Dr. Davis said.
She added, “Several of our programmes and short courses tap into the skills needed by a project manager and organisational leaders overall. BTVI prides itself on staying ahead of labour force needs as we produce globally competitive and economically independent students.”
BTVI currently offers a Principles of Project Management professional development course. Over the course of 10 weeks, students are introduced to the concepts, techniques and principles of project management. Students examine planning, organising and managing resources to bring about the successful completion of specific project goals and objectives. They define problems, develop solutions, plan projects and execute the plans using Microsoft Project and/or Excel software packages.