Fresh from participating in last month’s Business Exposition for small entrepreneurs at the Sophia Pavilion, Denyse Grant is preparing top hit the road again. On Sunday, she will be taking her Fashion Show and her line of organic and herbal hair and body products to the Girl Guides Pavilion in the expectation that the seasonal shoppers will come her way.
The idea, she says, is not only to secure a measure of seasonal patronage but also to build on the Sophia experience by growing her market incrementally.
What she seeks to do, she says, is to “take care of the whole person,” by offering a range of goods that embraces fashion and body therapy. On Sunday, she will be seeking to build on her experience at Sophia and hopefully to create an expanded market.
For almost twenty years, Grant has been designing and sewing of business wear, uniforms and wedding attire including bridal gowns, bridesmaid’s dresses, suits for grooms and groomsmen. Over the years she has expanded her horizons, delving into cosmetology, fabric design and the creation of herbal hair foods and organic baby oils. These days she is also experimenting with body lotions and lip balms. Her interests are supported by the fact that her husband is a beekeeper. Honey is a key ingredient in her body products.
Over time she has gradually built her own outlet named Denyse Fashions & Fabric Designs (to which she has added D’s Body Therapy) at 542 Go Slow Avenue in Tucville. It is a typical urban small business, built over time and mostly through loans from institutions that include the Institute of Private Enterprise Development (IPED) and Scotiabank. The loans, she says, have supported her upgrading and diversification pursuits over the years.
She acknowledges the role of the Guyana Marketing Corporation in the marketing of some of her products through the Guyana Shop. Perhaps 2016, the 50th year of Guyana’s independence, will be her breakthrough year.
Grant credits her business with providing seasonal employment for a few persons. More than that, having received her own training in cosmetology in London she now offers training locally.
Four years ago, after years of research and experimenting with various blends of organic oils and natural products Grant placed her handmade soaps on the local market.
Sunday at the Girl Guides Pavilion presents this determined businesswoman with another challenge. She is hoping that the Sophia experience has provided the impetus that will take her entrepreneurial efforts to greater heights.
