The names Melissa Barnwell, Jameer Shamshudeen and Rawle Small are probably known to few people outside their immediate circles of friends and families. If all goes well for them, however, they could eventually become household names in the local business sector given what the Guyana Youth Business Trust (GYBT) says is the aptitude that they have all demonstrated for entrepreneurship.
Melissa, Jameer and Rawle were participants in a recent six-week entrepreneurship programme, at the end of which the individual business proposals which they submitted as part of the exercise were adjudged the outstanding submissions out of a group of more than 20. More than that, the business proposals were not submitted simply as an academic exercise. As a reward for their effort they are being funded by the GYBT to set up and ‘kick’ their respective businesses into gear. Preparations, which, in each case, are already underway, are expected to accelerate with the handing over of the finances.
Each story is a commendable example of enthusiasm for entrepreneurship which is sometimes believed to be lacking in young Guyanese. Melissa is 28 and left her job as the manager of a lumber yard to follow her passion. The outcome, Savory Products, is a promising micro enterprise that produces four flavours of pepper sauce and three flavours of other food seasonings. Still limited to a home kitchen operation, the high quality bottling and labelling of the products suggests that Melissa understands the importance of packaging and labelling as elements in her marketing strategy. She lacks the technology necessary to produce in greater volume and is confined for the moment to manufacturing in small batches, mostly for promotional purposes. For the moment she relies on the patronage of people she knows but plans for her factory in Victoria, where she resides, are already underway. Actual construction and acquisition of equipment must await the GYBT loan.
Melissa’s new venture is a significant addition to an already existing enterprise named Mel’s Creative Décor, an earlier and still thriving business pursuit that allows her to express a passion for floral arrangement and cake design. A seemingly quiet and intense young woman, Melissa is confident that her dream of becoming an entrepreneur is becoming a reality.
Jameer is a 23-year-old former foreign exchange teller at a city commercial bank who also left his job to focus on a career in business. Jameer is already part-owner of a pharmacy. His current preoccupation is with utilizing a plot of land which he inherited at Hague to plant wiri wiri peppers which he plans to feed into the North American market. Raw pepper apart, Jameer also plans to manufacture ground pepper for export. He says too that his ongoing research into the manufacture of pepper oil may well provide him with an opportunity for diversification in the future. Nature Green Farm, his registered business, will serve as the umbrella organisation for his business pursuits.
A thoughtful, confident young man, Jameer told Stabroek Business that he has already undertaken some measure of market research which has led him to the West Indian food outlets in Queens. His research, he says, has told him that there is potential for the creation of a lucrative market among the migrant Caribbean population. “I believe that the market is there. I have done the research,” Jameer says.
Jameer is encouraged by the fact that his project has secured the support of the Ministry of Agriculture, the New Guyana Marketing Corporation and the National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI). His project, he says, also fits into the broader national pursuit of maximizing agricultural and agro-processing production for export.
Vintage Vines, the business name of the enterprise which 29 year-old Rawle is working to set up marks a radical departure from the agricultural and agro-processing pursuits of his colleagues. Rawle envisages the harnessing of information technology to market his personal passion for “tasteful things,” pretty and tasteful packages comprising wines and organic chocolates, the kinds of offerings that are popular on special occasions: engagements, weddings, birthdays and Valentine’s Day. His research has taken him to myriad web sites that offer high quality wines and chocolates at modest prices. He will import, package and market the service that he plans to offer, primarily through his own website.
However, his passion extends beyond importing wines. He is keen to pursue the manufacture of local fruit wines and has already hooked up with Warren and Tracey Douglas the manufacturers of the Pandama brand which has secured positive reviews among local consumers. Rawle is hoping to work with Warren and Tracey towards the manufacture of vanilla and honey wines.
Rawle is confident, articulate and, like his counterparts, has put salaried jobs behind him and opted for a business of his own. Previously, he worked with the UN Volunteer Programme and the Inter-American Development Bank.
Each of these three budding entrepreneurs has benefited from the backing of the GYBT and each will benefit from the trust’s mentoring programme under which the evolution of their respective enterprises will be monitored by an experienced entrepreneur. Each has emerged with both a vision and their separate business plans designed to provide them with a start in entrepreneurship. In turn, each of them has also acknowledged the challenges that lie ahead. It is the ability to sustain a business enterprise that provides the real challenge, they all say. Several weeks and months having been spent preparing and refining their business plans, researching markets and seeking technical support, Melissa, Jameer and Rawle await the disbursal of their respective GYBT loans knowing that their respective journeys are only now beginning.
