My Baby

Well, my internship is 9 months right?
The Women's Entrepreneurship Programme (that is not a typo, it is "programme" in Guyana) is a new initiative that Youth Challenge Guyana (YCG) has started with the objective of training and supporting 50 female entrepreneurs and small business owners to improve their business and ultimately their quality of life. The programme is the first of its kind in Guyana and it will provide women with resources, knowledge, and networking opportunities while developing female entrepreneurs and businesswomen to inspire others.
One month ago we had 22 women signed up for the programme and I am thrilled to say that we now have 58! :) During my first week in Guyana, Dmitri (YCG's Executive Director) and I were in the Kaieteur News Sunday paper (the biggest day) and we appeared on TV twice to speak about the programme. I had never been interviewed on live TV before and it all happened within my first week in Guyana so that was pretty exciting. The following two weeks were busy with phone calls and visits from women interested in signing up for the programme. Almost every single one of them mentioned that they had read about the programme in the paper or seen us on TV. Every time someone called or came in and told me all about their business or business idea I got really excited. Some of them would tell me their life stories, I loved it. 
The programme, funded by Exxon Mobil, was planned to start a couple months back but there wasn't one staff member dedicated to managing it which caused a slow start. When I arrived there was a structure and ideas about what the programme would entail but we brainstormed and developed it during the first two weeks. This is what the programme looks like as of now:
1. Entrepreneurship Training: Approx. 20 hours of entrepreneurship training done in 2 batches (25-30 women in each)
2. One-on-one support: Follow-up done by myself with bi-monthly meetings to evaluate each participant's progress, address issues, and provide advice going forward. I plan to meet with each entrepreneur 3 times over the following 6 months (June to November).
3. A mentorship programme which will partner each participant with an established business owner, entrepreneur, or business professional for further support, guidance,  and networking opportunities.
4. Monthly networking cafes for the participants to network, exchange ideas, and socialize in the community. These will include motivational guest speakers from the community and success stories from the participants themselves.
5. Monthly workshops to provide continuous training and education on specific topics that were not covered in the initial training session (e.g. Business etiquette, accessing international markets, management and leadership, etc.)
6. Other networking opportunities: providing the entrepreneurs with information on events, conferences, expos, and other networking opportunities in Georgetown, Guyana, and internationally.
• There is a conference in Port of Spain, Trinidad called Investing in Youth, with a large focus on entrepreneurship, that is coming up at the end of May and we will be sending one participant to attend.
• The Ministry of Human Services has launched a new event called Feminition, a Women's Exposition, in Guyana that will take place from May 27th - 29th in Georgetown. Our entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to set up a booth to display and sell their products and services. It couldn't be more perfect!

              Germaine and I at our desks....notice the trash bin in the middle for our basketball game

I am also hoping to plan a small Entrepreneurship Fair/Expo and create a Guidebook for YCG that will provide youth, women, and entrepreneurs in Guyana with a toolkit for starting up their own business. Overall the programme will encourage entrepreneurship in Guyana and provide participants with the knowledge, resources, and support to start-up and grow their own businesses. Over the past month the majority of my time was spent in meetings with different financial institutions, partner organizations and potential training facilitators and they were all great! I also spent a lot of time developing my work plan, recruiting participants, and working out the logistics of the programme. I had quite a few meetings on my own and I have learned so much in such a short period of time :)
The next step has been to organize the training sessions that will be starting in just over one week. We have chosen a training facilitator, decided on the dates, and set a schedule of topics to cover. This week I will be finalizing all of the logistics (venue, snacks, supplies & materials, etc.) and putting together a folder for each participant among many other things.

The programme is my baby but I also have some other initiatives and activities that I hope to accomplish during my time here.... 
1. Assisting with YCG's social media marketing and taking on the responsibility of YCG's twitter account (they currently don't have one)
2. Some photography on the side: for YCG, friends, and other events in the community
3. Professional Development Activities: Anything related to entrepreneurship, youth, and sport. I am hoping to get more involved with activities related to these three things, my ultimate passions in life.
I am always busy and always learning which is great. I never would have imagined that I would be in another dream job managing an entire entrepreneurship programme on my own in a foreign country but it has been incredible. I can't wait for the next 8 months!