Lindeners benefit from soap manufacturing workshop
Several residents in the mining town of Linden benefited from a soap manufacturing workshop, which was organised by the Small Business Bureau (SBB).
Some of the participants and the locally-made soaps
The exercise, which targeted registered members of the Bureau, commenced on Monday, June 11, 2018 and wrapped up on Friday, June 15, 2018, with a total of 27 persons taking advantage.
The exercise was spearheaded by Consultant Melissa Younge who is currently involved in the business of liquid soaps locally.
During the course of the exercise, participants learned the art of making mainly beauty bars, using local ingredients such as cocoa and Shea butter, turmeric, coconut oil, avocado, honey, oats, olive oil and coffee. They were educated in both theoretical and practical forms.
Skills Development Administrator with the SBB, Darren Sills, said the exercise is the first of a set of training organised for participants by the Bureau and upon completion, they will move on to the business practices segment in part two of the training programme.
He explained that the aim of the training is for the participants to be well rounded business people at the end of the exercises.
“This is also the first phase of the training with these clients, in terms of building their capacity as business owners. So, we’re going to start with this, showing them the trade and then in the following months we’re going to work with them on business tools; how to work with customers, how to fix their records, how to draft business plans,” he noted.
Sills said other trades may also be incorporated by request.
“Providing they want to do something other than soap, what we’re doing going forward is we’re going to be introducing other trades as by the request of the groups… the plan is to get them confident enough to walk into their own businesses with the skill,” he explained.
The exercise will be taken to Georgetown and Lethem in the coming months. The Bureau has also conducted similar exercises in the areas of sustainable forestry, mining and cosmetology.
