Ultra-Corporate Events last Friday evening hosted the third annual “I’m A Boss” Conference, where attendees were reminded of the importance of perseverance and resourcefulness as tools for self-empowerment.
The conference, which was held at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre under the theme “Empower to Impact,” was aimed at encouraging men and women to empower themselves in the workforce and society.
Guest speakers and some special invitees were presented with awards for the positive work that they have done in their communities, and the attendees were able to hear from the various speakers, who shared their experiences, including challenges, on their journey in their various fields.
One of the guest speakers was Deputy Mayor of Bartica Kamal Persaud, who shared her experiences as a businesswoman and a public figure. Persaud began by giving a background of how she got into business. She told attendees that her start as a businesswoman came after her husband left her with their child without any explanation.
She stated that subsequent to that, she was forced to move back to her home in Bartica, where she opened up a small vegetable stall just outside. That small stall eventually grew into a variety stall in Bartica’s market and led to the opening of a store in a mall.
Persaud added that though she had to overcome many obstacles, she was faced with even more after the horrific events of the 2008 Bartica Massacre. “Over the last ten years, this was a wound on my community that is still healing but we in the community had to collectively overcome,” she noted. “If there’s a lesson I’ve learned as a woman… is that life’s challenges are always going to be there for you as a person and they are always going to multiply because of your gender… I don’t see that as a handicap, however, but as an opportunity to overcome,” she told the attendees.
The main guest speaker was Dr. Rosh Khan, Chief Executive Officer of Franklin Covey Guyana, Masterclass Institute and Social Rank Media, who encouraged those who were in the audience to be resourceful. Khan recalled that when he was just starting out in his career, he was given the opportunity to attend a conference in New York, where he and other persons that were in attendance were allowed to market themselves and exchange business contacts with other.
Khan said that he had forgotten his business cards but instead of choosing not to attend the event, he used his initiative and created cards on the spot. “I ran up to the business centre in the hotel and I fired up Microsoft PowerPoint. I opened myself a little text box, I wrote my name in there, I put my contact information in there. I went to the person who was running the business centre and I said, ‘How many can I print?’” Khan recalled.
He stated that though his business cards were different from the others, he was still able to effectively market himself and was given an opportunity to be a presenter at the same conference two years later.
Other speakers included businesswomen Ashaka King and Pamela Dillon, and Lilowatie Naipal.
Those who were awarded for the work in their communities included Odessa Primus, Nadira Manbodh, Roland Eudoxie, and Debbie and Peggy Chin.
