9 women entrepreneurs to benefit from WINC AP mentorship

Nine Guyanese women will be participating in the second Women Innovators Network in the Caribbean Acceleration Programme (WINC AP) for women entrepreneurs. The women were selected from a total of 250 applicants from across the Caribbean.
First Lady Sandra Granger attended the opening session of the eight-month programme, which was hosted at the GeoTech Vision office on Brickdam.  In an invited comment, the First Lady said she was proud of the women, and that she is confident they would capitalise on the opportunity to learn the skills that they need to grow their businesses.

GeoTech Vision is a company that specialises in innovative spatial technologies and business ICT solutions, and is an accredited World Bank /Infodev AP Facilitator for the Caribbean. Its Founder and Managing Director, Valrie Grant, has said the programme is primarily based on facilitation of peer-to-peer learning among growth-oriented women.
The programme is designed to teach participants “a more advantageous context, leading to improved business performance and investment,” Grant has said, adding that “these growth-oriented entrepreneurs will learn from each other (and) they will be co-creating”.

Grant has said this entrepreneurship ecosystem approach emerged after it was found that creating an enabling environment for business start-ups was not leading to the creation of high-growth firms.
As such, the WINC partnered with large firms, service providers, civil society and universities to mentor the women, teaching them how to overcome challenges in relation to financing, owning and growing their businesses.
Participant Christine Gooding, owner of Market Square, has said she is looking forward to the training, and expects to gain a wealth of information that would help her to take her business to the next level.
“I’m definitely looking forward to (knowing) how I can get funding for my business; how I can leverage my business to gain a bigger market within the country, and also ways in which I can work for persons regionally perhaps,” she said.
The other eight participants are: Veronica Glen, Wanda Dillon, Maxine George, Cecily Bernard, Natasha Goodman, Candace Wickham, Petal Dodson, and Claudette Fredericks.
Over the training period, the participants will learn how to advance their ventures using networks; how to access financing; and how to link business with technology.
According to a statement from the Ministry of the Presidency, the programme includes business coaching and mentoring, as well as personal development sessions.
Chargé d’Affaires of the Canadian High Commission,  Jan Sheltinga; General Manager-Credit, Republic Bank (Guyana) Limited, Parbatie Khan; and owner of ActionCoach Guyana, Vishnu Doerga, also spoke at the event.