YLAI Week 2: Antiguan fellows gain ‘Day and Night’ growth in placements
By Deslyn A Joseph Antiguan entrepreneurs Canice James and Joshuanette Francis have officially wrapped up their second week of the 2026 Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative (YLAI), reporting a “day and night” transformation in their business models. After completing their initial orientation in Texas last month, the pair spent this past week embedded within […]
Black News 
By Deslyn A Joseph
Antiguan entrepreneurs Canice James and Joshuanette Francis have officially wrapped up their second week of the 2026 Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative (YLAI), reporting a “day and night” transformation in their business models.
After completing their initial orientation in Texas last month, the pair spent this past week embedded within their specialized host organizations, shifting from theoretical sessions to high-stakes practical application.
In San Diego, James described the week as an incredibly packed deep dive into his leadership style and the community impact of his business. The standout highlight was an intensive pitching workshop where James worked with elite presentation experts to dismantle and rebuild his business message.
“By the end of it, we all would have written our pitches twice. It was such a day and night difference from the start to the end,” he noted. “To have such targeted one-on-one growth in such a quick time was quite incredible.”
James also spent time studying the San Diego River’s conservation efforts, observing how local organizations maintain biodiversity and manage environmental spaces. He said that the week provided a perfect balance of technical business growth and community-led preservation strategies that he intends to bring back to local shores.
Meanwhile, at American University in Washington, DC, Joshuanette Francis experienced a profound perspective shift regarding national scale. Learning that some US campuses house 60,000 students, more than half the population of Antigua, Francis said the experience made her appreciate where we have come from and where we have to go.
For her, the most rewarding moment of the week was seeing her long-standing advocacy for waste management operating in the physical world through the university’s three-bin recycling and composting system.
“I am seeing something that I have put on paper in person,” Francis shared. “I am seeing the possibility of three bins in action. My heart just lights up.”
Following a meeting with the university’s Director of Sustainability, Francis has spent the latter half of the week building a framework to adapt these large-scale systems into a sustainable national model for Antigua and Barbuda, specifically focusing on job creation for persons with disabilities.
As the second week concludes, both fellows are now preparing for an upcoming pitch competition and further networking events. They continue to urge other Antiguan entrepreneurs to apply for future cohorts, emphasizing that while their 108 square miles remains the priority, the global knowledge gained during the fellowship is essential for local progress.
“Coming back with a wealth of knowledge is only going to make business even better,” Francis concluded.
