GREAT BAY--Member of Parliament Omar Ottley is calling for a stronger culture of mentorship, financial education and positive examples for young people, saying youth need to see that success can be achieved through education, hard work, patience and responsible financial decisions.
Ottley said too many young people are exposed to the end result of success without being shown the years of effort behind it. He argued that leaders and other successful adults should be more open about how they built their lives, rather than appearing only during election periods to take photographs or make promises to young people.
“If we don’t have examples for them, and we are afraid to show them that, ‘Hey, we are now successful. You too can do this this way,’ then we are missing an opportunity,” Ottley said.
He said young people should be taught practical lessons about banking, mortgages, debt, leverage and long-term financial planning, while also learning that progress often takes years rather than months.
Ottley used his own experience to make the point, recalling that he worked in construction, pursued his education and later completed a master’s degree. He said he has never hidden from the difficult parts of his past because young people should be able to see that mistakes or struggles do not have to define the rest of their lives.
“The majority of our youth need to look at me and say, ‘Well, if he could do it, I could do it,’” Ottley said. He said one of the biggest challenges facing young people today is the desire to have everything immediately. “The problem is we don’t want to wait that time. We want the car now. We want the money now,” he said.
Ottley warned that adults can sometimes contribute to that mindset by speaking negatively about people who have achieved material success instead of explaining the work, discipline and sacrifice that may have gone into reaching that point.
He said children should not be taught to see success as greed, showing off or something to criticize. Instead, parents and community leaders should use examples of achievement to encourage ambition and work ethic.
“You see that? That’s hard work,” Ottley said, describing the type of message he believes adults should give young people. “It’s a different mentality, and it instills something in them.”
Ottley also reflected on a lesson he learned as a young man from an older relative whose lifestyle he admired. He recalled wanting the same level of success while still in his late teens, before being reminded that the relative had spent decades working to reach that stage of life.
That experience, he said, helped him understand that young people often compare the beginning of their journey with someone else’s middle or later years.
Ottley said his own progression from construction work and school to homeownership and financial stability is an example of why patience matters.
“Fast-forward today, I have my own car, I have my own house,” he said. “And to the kids and the youth out there, you could do it, and your time will come.”
The MP said the wider lesson is that young people should be encouraged to work, learn, invest in themselves and develop healthy attitudes toward money and success.
He added that political leaders, parents and other adults should take greater responsibility for shaping that mindset, not only through words, but by remaining present and available to young people outside of election periods.
Ottley said that when young people ask him how he achieved certain things in life, he sees those conversations as an opportunity to teach them that success does not have to come through shortcuts.
His message, he said, is simple: work hard, be patient, learn how money works, and understand that progress takes time.
