Danielle Hodge is an engaging young woman with a passion for the land of her mother’s birth and, having herself ‘discovered’ Guyana, is immersed in an entrepreneurial pursuit which she now treats as though it were a sacred mission. Danielle was born in the United States, resides in Orlando, Florida, and during her occasional visits here to reconnect with family members on the Essequibo Coast gradually grew to ‘discover’ Guyana.
In her early thirties she had long begun to work in marketing, event planning and product promotion but, she says, the idea of “doing something” in Guyana had become an obsession. Something ‘rang a bell’ when she learnt of Guyana’s first ever Coconut Festival that was scheduled for October 28-30, 2016. There, she says, was where her idea of making a mark here became a focus.
Essequibo had introduced her to some of the country’s finest coconut groves and to the mostly female-run small business enterprises that were producing coconut oil. She had, as well, secured insights into to global demand for coconut products, not least the linkage between coconut oil and the cosmetics in metropolitan countries.
Much that happened thereafter happened quickly. Arising out of her attendance at the Coconut Festival she ‘hooked up’ with the Guyana Marketing Corpora-tion, became involved in ‘engagements’ during which her knowledge of the coconut oil sector gradually grew, registered a company named Indigenous Coconut Oil both here and in the United States and began purchasing, bottling and marketing coconut oil both here and in the United States. After a year and a half in the business she began to realize a modest profit. Danielle is still grateful to the GMC for the support she received from the agency in facilitating the export of her first 10-gallon consignment of coconut oil to the United States.
But that is only a skeletal outline of Danielle’s story. The essence of it she says, is the new focus that has been added to her life by the Guyana experience. It is, she says, that sense of “belonging,” the experience of being “a Guyanese” in a manner that goes way beyond her acquisition of a passport. She is in the process of an entrepreneurial experience that links her to Guyana and the two to the rest of the world.
You can tell that among her proudest moments are those during which she talks about her speedboat rides in the river, her interaction with the women who trade in coconut oil and her ‘adventures’ in the coconut groves, surrounded by the fruit itself. All of these, she says, are accomplishments of which she is immensely proud.
At home, her brand is already being sold at several outlets including Massy’s, Real Value and Survival supermarkets. Access to Bounty and DSL are “works in progress.” In Orlando, jars of Indigenous Coconut Oil have found their way into small supermarkets and even into a local Barber Shop.
Danielle is more than happy with the progress of her first business venture. Her thoughts, however, are on growth and sustainability. Having already invested significantly in the venture from her savings she is preoccupied with funding the project’s sustainability. Her focus, she says, is on securing grants and crowd funding-type partnerships. Market expansion apart there is still a great deal more work to be done in the area of product refinement. Apart from the support she receives from a relative who markets the product in Guyana she has established a connection with a University of Guyana student who is providing research-related support.
If she is aware that her entrepreneurial adventure is only just beginning Danielle Hodge is also not unmindful of the fact that she can do no better than begin with the first steps.
