HERBALIST Dr. Barbra Peterkin will be departing Guyana sometime in August to participate in a training programme, led by Vital Voices, as part of the Women’s Entrepreneurship in the Americas (WEAmericas). The workshop will be held from September 3 to 7 in Managua, Nicaragua and the invitation was extended by the United States Department of State, mentioning Peterkin’s tremendous leadership in business and the community.
Presently, she is involved with work in several communities across Guyana and recently spearheaded the launch of Co-op Week activities in one of the lesser focused ones along the Soesdyke/Linden Highway.
WEAmericas, a private/public partnership, was created to boost women’s economic participation and addresses the key barriers that they have to confront when leading small and medium size enterprises.
The group will be hosting the four-day project in Nicaragua in collaboration with the U.S. State Department and the Walmart Foundation, with the main aim of helping women entrepreneurs build their knowledge, skills and abilities needed to scale their businesses with special emphasis on export and sourcing as strategies for enterprise growth.
Other countries of the Caribbean and Latin America will also be represented at the forum. While participation in the undertaking is optional, the airfares, accommodation and other comforts will be taken care of by the organisers and the sessions will be conducted in both English and Spanish.

GRATITUDE
Peterkin has expressed her gratitude to the sponsors for selecting her to represent women in Guyana and disclosed that, since she attended a similar event in Washington D.C. sometime ago, she has been working with Guyanese women in business to identify their challenges and help find solutions.
She said she has been preparing the women for the Guyana leg of the WEAmericas where they will have to show their worth and ability to make themselves marketable and survive in business competition.
She mentioned that, with her recent role in assisting the Kuru Kuru Cooperative Society, she has been engaging “women power” as they are the ones with the resources in that area but they continue to find it hard to use them to earn income.
Peterkin said the area lacks the basics but has a lot of potential and, once funding and the right approach is taken in addressing the issues, those living there will be better off than they are at present, in terms of economic activity.
Two weeks ago, she was able to arrange the launch of National Cooperatives Week activities in the area, with the attendance of, among others, Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, religious leaders and members of several cooperative societies.