38 East Coast Demerara women being trained to get into business -through the First Lady’s Self Reliance and Success in Business Workshop

Georgetown, Guyana – (March 19, 2018) Thirty-eight young women, hailing from Mahaica, Clonbrook, Victoria, Belfield, Golden Grove, Haslington and Cove and John, East Coast Demerara this morning, assembled at the Women’s Leadership Institute to participate in First Lady, Mrs. Sandra Granger’s 24th Self Reliance and Success in Business Workshop.

In her opening address, the First Lady told the participants that the workshop aims to empower them to create lucrative opportunities for themselves and to enhance their community and business management abilities. “This is what we aim to do with this workshop; it is to help you develop your skills, whether you are already operating a business or you are thinking of operating a business, and increasing your choices so that you have…[it is] a solid base from which you can make informed decisions,” she said.

Mrs. Granger urged the participants to be punctual, to complete their assignments and to work hard since they would be issued with a recognised certificate at the end of the training. “This is a serious certificate. You have to come, you have to complete your assignments because this certificate that you will be awarded, is recognised by the Small Business [Bureau] of the Ministry of Business and microfinance organisations,” she said.

Regional Chairman, Demerara-Mahaica (Region Four), Ms. Genevieve Allen, commended the participants for taking advantage of the opportunity to enhance their education. Ms. Allen also challenged them to use the knowledge that they gain from the workshop to create strategic plans and partnerships within their communities. “I’m looking forward for when we return here on Friday, to hear a business plan being put forward with regards to how you can collaborate with this Institute,” she said.

Meanwhile, Facilitator of Interweave Solutions (Guyana) Incorporated, Mr. Sanjay Yohann Pooran, who provided an overview of the workshop, said that the course would cover the primary principles of business, home management and community development. “We will learn something called the Six ‘Ps’ of business… The Six ‘Ps’ of business are management tools, skills and abilities you will develop as part of the process of starting a small business. We want you to be equipped with record keeping skills, management skills, and leadership skills. We want you to have the ability to know how to hire people, when to hire them, how to brand, how to package, how to label your product, how to present your services to the wider public. Those are all things we will discuss with you,” he said.

Assistant Director of Community Development, Mr. Ernest Elliot who coordinated the workshops, said, “We started to put together a programme to identify young women to be part of this programme… What I did in organising the young women, I made contact with the various community development groups, social groups in the communities and the NDCs and we were able to come up with a number of persons,” he said.

The workshop is organised by the Office of the First Lady in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Protection and Interweave Solutions (Guyana) Incorporated. This is the second Self Reliance Workshop for the year.