The Ministry of Human Services and Social Security, through their Guyana Women’s Leadership Institute’s and Women Innovative and Investment Network (WIIN) has so far distributed a total of $16.2 million to over 200 women as seed funds to enable women to ‘start-up’, ‘build’ and ‘foster’ their entrepreneurial businesses.
According to a release from the ministry, over 700 persons from regions Two, Three, Four, Six and Ten were contacted in its initial stage and were guided on the process of how to correctly complete the proposal that would qualify them for the grant. In order to procure the grants, the participants were required to complete a WIIN training course and then utilize WIIN in a business workshop held in partnership with the ministry and the World Food Programme (WFP). As a consequence, some 216 cash grants were distributed to 157 persons to enable their new businesses to become registered, while 39 received grants for renewal of registration and another 20 who already had businesses with a valid registration.
In the release, Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Vindhya Persaud, said that compared to last year, some $120 Million was put into the WIIN initiative but more was done this year to help women strive. “The entire concept was focused on making women win, win for themselves, win for their families, and win for their future. I want to create a level playing field for you so you can utilize the skills here to capitalize on all opportunities… when WIIN was conceptualized, it had to be accessible and inclusive so that meant you didn’t have to get anything to enter the programme, and that was something I was very passionate about, because no woman should feel this programme is so far away from her that she can’t get into it… this is a major investment the Government of Guyana has made for you to access this opportunity, last year we were able to put $120 million towards WIIN, this year it’s more,” said the minister.
WFP’s Policy Officer, Greg Munene stated that her organisation was happy to partner with the ministry to help persons bring their businesses to reality and also to create additional opportunities for themselves and the country at large. When asked how they felt about their grants, according to the release, one participant, Joy-Ann Mecedo, a Kwakwani resident, whose husband is visually challenged, said that she is grateful as she now becomes the breadwinner for her family. “My husband is 66 years old, and he has glaucoma in both of his eyes and can’t go into the backdam and work so it is really hard. We used to work but the market closed off about 10 years back…I’m starting a new business so this money will help me get on my feet so I can be a proud businesswoman.”
Another participant, 23-year-old Latesha Cadogan, explained that the WIIN initiative has helped her with her plans for her business. “When I did the WIIN in business programme, I was able to put all my thoughts down on paper and they showed me what I needed to do with my business plan. During the course, I got to know in-depth what is required for the long term…my vision is to provide various strains of mushroom to supply several industries, including the oil sector, based out of my hometown Linden. Through this initiative, with the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security’s empowerment cash grant, I will be able to get the start-up I need…”
Meanwhile, Essequibo resident Lavern Corbin said that she is grateful to the ministry since she now has the necessities to open her food business. During the various seminars, which were hosted for these woman to uplift their grants, they had also seen the benefit of registering their businesses under the Commercial Deeds and Registry, whose officers were present, and learnt the steps on how to secure their National Insurance Scheme (NIS) and Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) compliances. The ministry, through WIIN, has trained over 6,000 persons and has plans to further train an additional 6,000 persons this year.
