EMPRETEC (Guyana) has again been making its presence felt in providing training for Guyanese women involved in small entrepreneurial enterprises, this time, through its Venture Out programme.
Earlier this week, Managing Director of EMPRETEC Judy Semple-Joseph briefed Stabroek Business on what she described as “a social and economic empowerment programme for people who operate businesses on a small scale and who seek to enhance the viability of their operations.
Implemented with the support of Republic Bank (Guyana) Ltd. Venture Out has targeted 100 women from Regions 2,4,6,9 and 10 in an initiative which Semple-Joseph says is designed to enable them “to stand on their own two feet.”
While the technical components of the programme sought to provide participants with training in the effective management of businesses, Semple-Joseph says that the exchanges between the participants and instructors focused equally on issues of motivation and empowerment. She explained that much of the programme focused on providing “mentorship and coaching which is intended to help build self-confidence among participants by promoting entrepreneurial awareness and determination.” EMPRETEC expects, she says, that imbued with a combination of self- confidence and entrepreneurial spirit, the women will be encouraged “to apply sound business practices to their ventures and to build positive linkages within their communities and in the long run increase their standards of living.”
Semple-Joseph explains that it was not by accident that Venture Out sought to extend its reach into rural and hinterland communities in order to reach those enterprising but disadvantaged women who most needed exposure to what the programme had to offer. Participants in the programme included women engaged in small-scale agro-processing, clothing and textiles manufacture and design, handicraft and other modest areas of manufacture. In fact, Joseph explains, Venture Out even made room for women who were not involved in any form of business but for whom the programme might provide an avenue for entry into a business venture.
Part of the challenge which Venture Out had to overcome was the need to tailor its programme to enable effective communication with its audiences. Semple-Joseph explained that the requirement of communicating business concepts to groups that are largely unschooled in the discipline of entrepreneurship requires a careful approach to instruction. Once that hurdle was overcome the essence of the programme was transformed into a meaningful two-way flow of communication between instructors and women who demonstrated an eagerness to learn more.
The specific subject areas comprising the Venture Out Programme included Motivation and Empowerment, Basic Business Management Techniques, Confidence Building, Simple Cash Flow Budgeting, Vision and Goal Setting, Pricing, Business Assessment, Sales and Marketing and Record Keeping,
The first in the series of Workshops was conducted at Anna Regina on June 9th, 2010. Twenty three women drawn from an assortment of small rural groupings including the Pomeroon Women Small Cottage (agro processing) Vilvoorden Women’s Group (sewing, floral and cake decorating) Macaseema Pioneer Group (craft) Lima Sands (craft) Airy Hall Group (poultry) and various other self-employed individuals attended the seminar. Semple-Joseph says that she was more concerned with the participants’ assessment of the value of the forum than with her own assessment. Based on the feedback she has concluded that the group wil benefit particularly from the basic training which they received in aspects of cash flow management, pricing, sales and marketing in conjunction the knowledge gained from practical group exercises.
Other Venture Out sessions were held in Georgetown and New Amsterdam in June and in Regions Nine and Ten in August.
Venture Out, Joseph says, “is based on the principle that there is the need for women to have a clear vision and strategy in place to become successful leaders and business women. What Venture Out seeks to do is to establish a basis for women to be more result oriented and to have the confidence to succeed and not to believe in the restrictions of the environment or gender hampering their possibilities of the future.” Additionally, Joseph says, the programme seeks to draw on the experiences of successful women entrepreneurs and professionals who can offer valuable lessons on how to make sound business decisions and avoid some of the common obstacles to growth and development.
Some important benchmarks were set for the future of EMPRETEC Guyana’s Venture Out programme in addresses to mark the start of its Second Forum on June 17th, 2010 in Georgetown. Human Services Minister Priya Manickchand asserted that the involvement of women in all sectors of the economy is important for the further development of Guyana. At the same time she reiterated the need to review national legislation to provide greater support the empowerment of women and for the placing of equal value on their contribution.
Former Project Manager of the now expired Linden Economic Advancement Programme (LEAP) alluded to the disparity between the number of women in business in Guyana and their lack of “visibility.” She commented too on the issue of lack of opportunities to access capital noting that this was one of the key inhibiting factors to the entrepreneurial advancement of women. Generally, Ms. Whalen’s address focused on the need for improved access to financing for women in business and women seeking to embark on business ventures, provision of credit guarantees, the creation by commercial banks of a better range of products for women and more involvement of non governmental organizations in the financing of ventures for women. Additionally, Ms. Whalen posited that there is need for the establishment of technology transfer programmes aimed at enabling women to expand their businesses to enable them to expand and grow i.e. re: Informa-tion Technology; improved packaging requirements.
In describing Venture Out as a significant EMPRETEC accomplishment, Semple-Joseph told Stabroek Business that she believes that one of its most important achievements was the role that it has played in imbuing women running small businesses with the vision, confidence and self belief to take the next step forward. “In many instances,” she says, “those are sometimes the main inhibitors to them transforming small ventures into successful businesses.”
