Celes Onica Robeiro of A and C Boutique and Beauty Parlour is in the business of making people look good. The animation in her voice was obvious as she spoke of her primary motivation – “I love to see people being pretty and handsome” and shared how she would compliment well-groomed and well-dressed men and women and endeavour to ensure all who came within her orbit were well put-together.
“I would see a woman walking down the road and say she looks nice, but the hair is missing something…,” she confessed. “I even call customers off the road and say ‘come, come, we have things to make you look pretty’ and show them the different colour combinations and styles…”
The trained cosmetologist and barber with a keen eye for style is always on the lookout for great fashion and personally selects the clothing she carries in her boutique from online and other sources.
A native of the Cinderella County, she grew up watching her mother work hard in business and was inspired to do likewise. The married mom of five said she also opened her own business, “because I love to earn my own money. I am an independent woman”.
Robeiro has a simple goal for the registered enterprise to “brighten it” up and ensure it flourishes, providing “good things” for customers to satisfy their needs so that they would not go somewhere else for their beauty and fashion needs. She is quite aware of the challenges she
faces, pointing out that “every day more and more salons” are opening and many of them operate training schools, so they are able to offer cheaper prices. Moreover, the inherent cyclical nature of the hairdressing business – you can only do your hair so often – makes it hard to earn a consistent dollar, although selling clothes helps to offset some of the uncertainty for the young businesswoman.
“Sometimes business is good; sometimes business is bad, but you can’t give up,” the entrepreneur said, noting that holidays were the best periods for the beauty parlour/ boutique and things were average right now.
When questioned on what the authorities could do to help business owners, Robeiro paused in thought for a few moments before the words rushed out. “People need jobs: if you don’t have a job, you don’t have money to spend.”
She had very straightforward advice for persons desirous of taking the plunge into business ownership: “Starting a business is very nice, but you have to know how to budget yourself (in terms of time, money and other resources).” She added that being polite was the most important quality for an entrepreneur. “You have to be polite to people,” she stated emphatically.
Robeiro, who describes herself as an early bird and a woman of faith, has managed to achieve a good work-life balance, but is very focused on growing her business.
“Success is when you achieve something you have always wanted.”
Contact: 678-7979I [email protected] I Lot 6 Anna Regina Public Road, Essequibo Coast
