By Marissa Foster

The Naked Closet and The Babe Cave are located on Duncan Street, Georgetown. They aim to bring women of all walks of life together to make a difference through fashion and feminism. The face behind these businesses is the enthusiast, 23-year-old Amber Low who is also a commercial pilot by trade. Low always felt the need to give back to Guyana and its people because they helped to mold her into the woman she is today. As such, she returned to Guyana to make a difference in any way she saw fit. In June 2019, the Naked Closet was launched and Amber described it as being “Guyana’s First Female-led online marketplace”. Proceeds from every sale made through The Naked Closet are used for a monthly community project. With her help, over 50 children went back to school in Baramita, Barima-Waini (Region One) with new uniforms and school gear. Her businesses also provided care packages for the women and children at Help and Shelter and their current project is their Snack Pack Project. They will be making snack packs for children in need who are at home during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Naked Closet was Low’s first introduction to the small business community here in Guyana. She realised that there was much be desired in terms of support. Young women with online businesses always put themselves at risk when they have to meet clients and customers in unknown spaces. This fervent entrepreneur stressed that, “Most of us were running our small businesses from our homes, doing deliveries and meeting people at random places to get packages to customers. This did not seem like a safe option for anyone.” As such, Amber developed her recent initiative called, “The Babe Cave”. It is a collaborative workspace for women in small businesses. This business provides an opportunity for women to have a safe place to display and sell their items in a physical location. The Babe Cave also serves as a safe environment for meeting clients and customer pick-ups and also has a studio lighting space for freelance makeup artists to work in.

The Babe Cave serves to boost small businesses and help women to grow together. Low’s platform also provides a network of strong women. This network of women includes Timeka Marshall who recently launched her hair product line. These women stand together to make a difference in each other’s lives and hopes that their work can inspire other women in business. Naked Closet also has a support chat for women which allows them to speak to someone from their team if they ever need an ear. With every sale listing and every purchase, these businesses strive to help others. Amber’s work transcends business; it is also very charitable. In the arena of business, conflicts do happen but Amber hopes to change that especially amongst women. She said, “‘Competition’ is not a word we ever use in the Babe Cave. We aim to collaborate, grow and transform together. Everyone has a brilliant idea, most people just need to know that they will have the support to make that idea become a plan and a plan become a reality. That’s what we do.”

The Babe Cave has several small businesses on its premises with business owners from various sectors including hair care, fashion, jewellery, accessories, shoes and electronics. Patrons are encouraged to visit the Babe Cave to support the women and their small businesses.