With increasing numbers of young Guyanese, notably, women, beginning to embrace entrepreneurship as an option, the boundaries of the business sector continue to expand in pleasing directions, though, having set out on their entrepreneurial journeys many young people are earnestly seeking guidance in an effort to take their initiatives forward.
If there are no available ‘numbers’ on the extent of the national demand for ice cream, there exists a general awareness that it is wildly popular. Ice cream may have evolved from the ‘good old days’ of manual ice cream cans but old habits die hard and home-made ice cream ‘manufactured’ in some of the country’s most modest kitchens is still popular.
Ask Veronica, the Tuschen, East Bank Demerara, young woman who has been creating ice cream in her kitchen since 2019 and who, over time, and on account of pleasing consumer response is looking to ‘go bigger.’
“Business,” she says, “runs in the blood.” She remembers both her mother and her now deceased father “making things to sell.”
The modest outlet at home from which she markets her ice cream has earned itself a pleasing measure of popularity. Her main customers, she says, are “people on the west side,” particularly at Stewartville where she spent her formative years. Her work mates, she says, are also “big supporters.”
Her life, she says, is not all about ice cream. She serves as an Elder in the Seventh Day Adventist Church even as she is currently studying Behavioral Sciences at the University of Southern Caribbean. Amidst all that she still finds the time to counsel young people in her church and her community.
It is her ice cream, however, that serves as an important impetus for both her social life and her entrepreneurial ambitions. “My ice cream is hand made,” she says. It is not made by machine. It is made with love, resulting in the best-tasting ice cream around. It is a simply marketing plug which, inevitably, her entrepreneurial ambitions will compel her to set aside. It is, however, sufficient to satisfy – for the time being at least – the demands of her still limited excursion into the ice cream business.
Young Ones, the trading name of her enterprise, came into being in 2019, coinciding with Veronica’s thirtieth birthday. Her venture into business commenced with “buying and selling stuff like perfumes and bonnets and snacks like mittai, ‘chicken foot’ and plantain chips. The reason? ”I wanted to raise monies so that I could complete my college education,” she says. She is targeting 2022 as the year in which she intends to re-commence her studies.
Young Ones homemade ice cream ‘kicked off’ in Veronica’s kitchen last year. It was, she says, “well received,” a function, she believes, of the fact that her ingenuity, over a short period of time has yielded seven flavours… Oreo, Chocolate, Vanilla, Lemon, Mango, Coconut, and Banana.
Growth, she says, has been sufficiently encouraging to give rise to expansion plans. Her front yard is presently being transformed into what is often described as a ‘chill out space,’ an area where persons can come sit, relax and have the best homemade ice cream. She also offers Karaoke and other ‘fun activities.’ Even before its completion, the area has already been christened Young One’s Homemade Ice Cream Shop. The first planned activity has already been christened SPICY- Sip, Paint and Ice Cream @ Young Ones.
In the temporary absence of a vehicle, deliveries have been suspended but Veronica is optimistic about better days to come. She believes that an understanding Guyanese public will be prepared to give her time to grow.
The official launch of Young Ones Home Made Ice Cream Shop will take place in December.
Veronica can be reached at 615-3618.
