At 20, Quiana Chester appears anchored to – at some point in time in the future – immersing herself in academia and eventually finding her way to accomplishments that derive therefrom and the various ‘perks’ that attend those accomplishments. For the moment, however, material circumstances compel the 20 year old former St. Stanislaus College student to take a tilt at small business pursuits, that option shaped by material circumstances that do not afford her an unencumbered path to her end goal. It was, it seems, pretty much the same focus during her 6th Form period at Bishops High School after her performance at the CXC examination (during her sojourn at Saints).
Oozing confidence not always manifest in a youngster whose background includes an enduringly loyal mother who makes her living vending in the city and a father with whom, she admits, she shares a ‘testy relationship,’ she tells her story with an openness that is not always consistent with a youngster whose background has ‘thrown up’ an assortment of challenges. Influenced, perhaps, by her mother’s ‘entrepreneurial’ instincts she found herself attached to an in-school clique of juvenile ‘hustlers’ who engaged in the marketing of Jolly Ranchers, an American brand of sweet hard candy, gummies, jelly beans, lollipops and sour bites favoured by the ‘juniors’ at Saints. The ‘clandestine’ in-school trading pursuit, Quiana told the Stabroek Business, was later to metamorphose into a more fixed entrepreneurial mindset.
However preoccupied she had become with her amateur entrepreneurial pursuits Quiana never lost contact with her academic ambitions and by the time she had arrived in Fourth Form at Saints the marketing of Jolly Ranchers had become a means through which she was financing her mathematics ‘extra lessons’ classes. If Quiana still remains anchored to the idea of academia – Environmental Science and Criminology being two of the disciplines that popped up during our discourse, what is evident is that her entrepreneurial ambitions still occupy a prominent position of the platform of her ambitions.
In an era where the global market offers a bewildering array of apparel, scents, jewelry and cosmetics, Quiana sees entrepreneurial openings for youngsters like herself whose one potentially lucrative platform is continually fed by an expanding market for Leuks, A continually growing appetite for Leuks, personal style ‘signatures’ that are sufficiently individual to become inextricably linked to the individual. Put simply, a Leuk connotes a style/fashion/brand that is virtually indivisible from the user. It connotes something noticeable.
When the Stabroek Business spoke with Quiana earlier this week she was preparing to embrace another phase in her entrepreneurial journey, ‘space’ for her goods on shelf space at Sash Store on Carmichael street, opposite Woodlands Hospital. Prior to this latest ‘startup ‘she had earlier found space at a ‘pop up shop’ in the Courtyard Mall on Robb Street.
Asked about her substantive academic ambitions and possible concerns that her current preoccupation with entrepreneurship may cause her to leave her academic ambitions aside Quiana says that she regards her current preoccupation with earning as a means through which to open the door to the fulfillment of her academic ambitions, her line of reasoning being that one would have to help finance the other.
Quiana is a member of the Women Innovation and Investment Network (WIIN). Opened to all females 14 years and older, the Women’s Innovation and Investment Network (WIIN) is a programme established by the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security, which features free self-development and empowerment opportunities through short, impactful, certificate courses. Seeking every legitimate means she can find to strengthen her entrepreneurial credentials Quiana told the Stabroek Business that she relishes the opportunity afforded her to interact with like minds and to share experiences. Going forward, her wish is for the creation of more state-funded openings that empower emerging female entrepreneurs to achieve their goals.
