Office of Business Development

The family of the late Rawle Cecil Brancker JP, GCM recently established a scholarship in honour and memory of the late entrepreneur who passed away in 2021 at the age of 83. Celebrated as an astute businessman, he was the founder and Executive Chairman of the Barbados Lumber Company and founder of Brancker’s, the hardware store and family business which was a landmark on Fontabelle in Bridgetown for decades.

From modest beginnings, he rose to prominence through hard work and dedication, but remained humble and generous throughout his lifetime. He was the last of his mother’s six children, born and raised in Emmerton, Bridgetown. Ottie Ince Brancker, his mother, sold ham and cheese cutters and homemade drinks from her house. Later, she added a small shop to the side of her house, and she extended product to include school supplies. It was through “managing mama’s money” that his interest in entrepreneurship grew.

Brancker co-founded a Men’s Store called El Hombre and Harriette Enterprises, a trading company. He later co-founded, along with Ulric Mapp, Mapp’s Garment Factory.  Well recognised for his business acumen, he chaired Boards of several institutions served on the boards of many others in Barbados and the region.

Of his journey as a pioneering black entrepreneur, Brancker is quoted as saying “The highest point was to be able to prove that it could be done!” He always aaffirmed the importance of black Barbadian entrepreneurs supporting each other.

He was as passionate about cricket, as he was about his alma mater, the Combermere School. In terms of his career in cricket, He was an all-rounder for Barbados between 1956 and 1970. A member of the Empire Cricket Club since the age of 12 years, he was later named an honorary vice president and trustee, and went on to become a Barbados Cricket Legend and the chairman of Cricket World Cup in 2007. Brancker was a member of the famous West Indies squad that toured England in 1966, captained by Rt Excellent Sir Garfield Sobers.

The Rawle C Brancker Entrepreneurial Scholarship will provide financial assistance to an undergraduate student pursuing a degree in entrepreneurial studies. Former students of the Combermere School will be given first preference.
 

Ms. Natasha Thompson-Small is a graduate with an honours degree in Accounts from The University of the West Indies.  She also holds the ACCA designation and a wealth of experience in the accounting field.  Ms. Thompson is the Group Financial Officer at Goddards Enterprises Limited.
 
Ms. Thompson-Small was raised in the Black Rock, St. Michael area by her grandmother Ms. Daphne Thompson.  She decided to set up this scholarship in her grandmother’s honour for students in the Black Rock, Grazettes and surrounding St. Michael area.  This scholarship is valued at $3,000.00 per year and is awarded to 2nd and 3rd year undergraduate students studying in any academic field, who possess good academic performance and can provide a clear demonstration of financial need.

After school at Wesley Hall and Combermere, Mr. Freddie Miller started his career in engineering at the now defunct Barbados Central Foundry.  He became an electrician and later taught himself the specialty, of refrigeration engineering.  Mr. Miller built and opened Miller Bros. Ice Factory at Tudor Street in the City Bridgetown, in the era where an engineer would have had to be imported from England for such an enterprise.  In 1937, Mr. Miller joined the growing labour movement after the 1937 Riots and became a Barbados Labour Party Member of Parliament in 1948, where he represented the parish of St. George for eighteen unbroken years.
 
In his honour, the children of the late Frederick Edward “Freddie” Miller (1910-1989) Buddy Gordon, Luther Gordon, Alice Doreen, Grantley Clement and Dame Billie Antoinette Miller, established a scholarship valued at $10,000.00 over a three year (3) period.  This scholarship is awarded to undergraduate students who are pursuing studies in the field of Electronics with a grade point average of 3.0 or greater.  The awardee must commit to working in the Caribbean region for a period of three (3) years after graduation.  He/ She must clearly demonstrate outstanding commitment to public service (volunteerism, involvement in extracurricular activities for community/national development) and financial need.