Local cosmetologists praise SBB’s Micro-Cosmetology programme

April 4, 2018

DPI, Guyana, Wednesday, April 04, 2018

Forty-one entrepreneurs will soon be graduating from a three-month micro-cosmetology course facilitated by the Small Business Bureau (SBB). The agency launched the exercise in February of this year, with the aim to amend and transform the current cosmetology standards in Guyana countrywide.

Rob Willis, American Cosmetology Consultant conducting a training session with entrepreneurs.

The sessions were described as life-changing by the beneficiaries.

Owner of the ‘Sister to Sisters Beauty Shop’ in Upper Demerara-Berbice (Region Ten), Setra O’Selmo said: “It’s very educational and what makes this programme different is that it is not just about theory and practical; We actually get into the chemistry behind cosmetology.”

Echoing similar sentiments, the owner of Despats Beauty Salon in Georgetown, Patricia Helwig said “I have about 28 years of experience as a cosmetologist; but what I have learned here in the three months, I have never learned before. It is so much new information, you’re excited; it’s bubbling over, you want to come every day.”

Tiffany Moriah, the Owner of The Experience Beauty Salon, explained the training sessions have brought a new perspective for her in the field of cosmetology.

“It has opened my mind; the work that I now do at the salon can be executed more effectively so the customers will be pleased. We were taught about standards, and definitely we are advocates of standards in the cosmetology organisation,” Moriah said.

Other entrepreneurs participating in the training sessions commended the SBB for making the programme a reality. They encouraged the government to continue investing in small businesses since it will foster the promotion of standards in the country.

The sessions were conducted by American Cosmetology Consultant, Rob Willis, who has over 30 years’ experience in the field. Willis explained the three-month meetings have been extremely beneficial for the attendees of the training exercise.

He said stemming out of the sessions was the birth of “The Cosmetology Network” a local cosmetology organisation which aims to provide services to cosmetologists countrywide.

“The whole purpose is to give some mandate, some law, some structure to professionalism for cosmetologists.”

He added, “when you can go to the market and see people performing services, and then there is a salon across the street and there is price hiking and all that; there has to be something that will bring balance to it. The association will be that body in Guyana to keep that balance.”

SBB is a semi-autonomous agency under the Ministry of Business. It aims to implement programmes and offer services which address major constraints faced by small businesses, such as access to finance, business management and technical skills and to promote policies which foster small business development, among others.