JUST over a year ago, 31-year-old Denisha Victor passed away. She was a local entrepreneur who owned KoKo, a natural hair store on Robb Street, Georgetown and the co-founder of the Curl Fête Guyana Natural Hair and Beauty Expo.

Despite her passing, the impact of her life continues to be felt by many and, in her honour, her family decided to make a contribution to another young woman, 19-year-old Moriah Hamilton, who is setting out to “make waves” in her own right.

Victor’s mother Orla Gibson, told the Pepperpot Magazine that she had been thinking of ways she could honour Victor, since it has been one year since her daughter’s passing.

Choosing how to honour the young woman, however, proved to be more challenging than she thought, until one day she was scrolling through Facebook and saw a post that resonated with her.

That post was about Hamilton and her efforts at raising the necessary funds to offset her expenses as she begins her tertiary education journey at Howard University in the United States.

Hamilton, during the recent launch of her scholarship fundraiser, related that she would be pursuing a major in Civil and Environmental Engineering, and a minor degree in Communication Studies while at the university.

“As I saw the picture and the story on Facebook, I said, ‘You know, that would be good to make this contribution on behalf of Denisha’,” Gibson related.

It was then it dawned on her that helping one young woman achieve her dreams of studying abroad and studying the subject areas she wants to was something that Victor herself would have supported. As such, a contribution of US$1,000 was made to the aspiring engineer.

“Education is [Denisha’s] thing,” Ms. Gibson emphasised, explaining that her daughter was passionate about increasing educational opportunities for others.

This was evidenced by Victor’s work with the Rotaract Club of Georgetown Central, where she was an active member prior to joining the Rotary Club in August, 2019.

While in the Rotaract Club, she executed a literacy project called “Read to lead,” which consisted of a discussion on dyslexia and a six-week reading programme for the children at the Ruimveldt Children’s Home.

Beyond this project, Victor also created the club’s signature fundraiser called Wine and Art, which has raised over $3 million for community development in Guyana.

Last year, when Victor passed away, her efforts at giving back and engaging in community service were reflected on. Importantly, her business acumen was also well recognised since, in 2016, she opened her own natural hair store, KoKo.

Nowadays, KoKo is currently run by her immediate family members and it continues to be a haven for women entrepreneurs and they continue to feature products from local female artisans.

Gibson highlighted that her daughter would have continued to find ways of helping people, because that’s just the kind of person she was.