SHANELLE Garraway, the owner of Garraway’s Delight, is a young entrepreneur who, like many other small business owners, faces a lot of challenges. In an interview with the Pepperpot Magazine, she highlighted some of those challenges and how she is managing to overcome them.

“By trying to substitute certain raw materials which have risen in costing since the pandemic began, these materials have been supplied to us at a cost,” Garraway told Pepperpot Magazine during an interview.

Her business, Garraway’s Delights, is a catering service that undertakes orders for all special occasions. She also explained that in order to meet the demands of customers, particularly during the pandemic, Garraway‘s Delight has introduced its online service and delivery order system to customers, who aren’t able to come to the store and make their purchase.

It was further explained that Garraway’s Delight would negotiate with customers on the prices that are being paid for the various items that would have been purchased and bargain with them on obtaining the items or item purchased their affordability to utilise their purchasing power.

Garraway explained that she just participated in this year’s “Women Expo” which was held at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre on March 7 in observance of International Women’s Day and that persons were surprised at the premium quality of her products .

But despite the constraints of COVID-19 and the rising cost of materials, Garraway’s Delight has been able to meet the demands of its international clientele, thus catering for weddings and other events which are held out of the country.

Meanwhile, another Guyanese entrepreneur and the proprietor of Lexann’s Nail Creations and Nsi Nails Guyana, Lexanne, shared with Pepperpot Magazine that another issue plaguing the operations of entrepreneurs is getting access to quality products on a regular basis for her clients.

“Access to real quality products is the main challenge faced by the cosmetology agency right now, and particularly access to quality products at an affordable price,” Lexanne related to the Pepperpot Magazine.

She expressed the view that clients who visit her place of business received customer satisfaction.
Lexanne further expressed the view that nail technicians in Guyana sell themselves short, thus providing a dissatisfaction and deterrent to persons who want to join the industry and compete for an honest living

She noted that this is a multimillion-dollar industry and that there is enough scope for persons to step up their game and make a decent living for themselves and the maintenance of their families.

“Set the bar high, especially if you know that you provide great service, and you use good products for your clients, there is no need for you to sell yourself short,” Lexanne told Pepperpot Magazine.

Both of these entrepreneurs have stated that despite challenges, they are passionate about their work and are determined to see their business thrive, so they will continue to work towards achieving that goal.