The Fellows of the Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative (YLAI) recently hosted their first networking event, ‘YLAI Connect’, where as many as 70 business minds came together to share a whirlpool of innovative ideas.
The event was hosted by Triston Thompson, the first YLAI Fellow and co-founder of Intellect Storm, an information and communication technology engineering group, along with the recent batch of participants: Shaunda Yarde, CEO of Golden Crunch Coconut Biscuits; Judason Bess, co-founder and manager of the Farmacy, which deals with organic fruit and vegetable production; Abbigale Loncke, founder of Community Healthcare, a home care agency and Dason Anthony, CEO of 592 Dresses, an online clothing marketplace.
YLAI is an initiative of President Barack Obama. It was launched to link young leaders across the globe with the aim of providing them with the training, tools, networks and resources needed to transform their societies and drive economic development.
“The reason for this event is not just for you to come and meet the YLAI Fellows, it’s for us to form a youth movement, a movement that will drive this change, because we really need the driving force, the youthfulness and innovation to push the development of Guyana,” Thompson told the young leaders.
The aim was to connect entrepreneurs at all levels and in various areas, to forge a sense of community and engage like-minded individuals.
“The people we see in this room are possibly partners, are possibly customers, are possibly people we can serve in some capacity. But that opportunity is not just isolated to this room. We live in a world where the barriers just don’t exist anymore…There is no limit to who you can reach out to,” social media marketing expert Rosh Khan told them.
And reach out they did. The participants made full use of the hours following the opening speeches to connect, forge relationships, and build their clientele.
The YLAI experience
“And in an essence I think that’s what YLAI is: it allows us to go into a space, interact with people, to show us that, you know, what we have is of value, that what we bring to the table is of value,” Yarde said.
She recounted her experience as a YLAI Fellow, recalling how out of place she had felt when she first arrived for the programme, and the moments that redefined her experience and by extension her life. She had arrived in Texas to meet 249 other fellows, and was overcome by feelings of uncertainty and inadequacy when she encountered persons who were “changing lives.” That was, of course, until she met a South African woman who sold gourmet cotton candy.
“If somebody can sell gourmet cotton candy, then by joy, I can sell a biscuit!” Yarde joked. She said that was her first “aha moment” during the Fellowship. The other was during a speech delivered by a Nobel Prize winner, who addressed learning to deal with failure. It was then she accepted that she needed to take a different approach when obstacles arose and rather than berate herself, learn to change her way of thinking.
“One of the things that happened to me at YLAI was, these two moments collided and I thought differently about myself. I thought differently about my product. I thought differently about everything,” she said.
“So now I think my biscuits are a part of Guyana. I think they deserve to be shared. I think they deserve to be preserved. When you eat that biscuit it will take you right back to a child running in the street [when you could run in the street] and you’re running and you’re all messy and your grandmother just baked this thing for you—that is what I’m selling.
“As one of the business owners in Miami said, ‘Shonda, what you have done is you have taken an integral piece of Guyana and you have placed it in a bag and you have made it accessible for every and anybody.’”
Yarde referred to YLAI programme as a “boot camp” for her business and a “re-boot camp” for her self-esteem and soul.
Government and the business community
The event was graced by Minister of Business Dominic Gaskin, as well as then Deputy Mayor Sherod Duncan and representatives from the US Embassy, the African Business Round Table, the Caricom Secretariat, Bank of Guyana, Partners of the Americas and the business community.
Gaskin, in his address, stated his belief that it was an enabling environment and not support that was the most important thing for entrepreneurs in Guyana.
“… And an enabling business environment for entrepreneurs is one in which there are appropriate options for developing ideas, applying solutions, financing ventures and capturing the value that you create,” he said. “And insofar as these elements are concerned, it is my belief that the current business environment in Guyana, despite its challenges, does provide an [atmosphere] in which entrepreneurship can thrive.”
Plans to continue to push it include the promotion of entrepreneurship in schools as a viable career option, the development of business incubators and the execution of the small business procurement programme, which he noted will take effect from next year and allow registered small businesses to access government procurement under a formal incentive system.
