IN an effort to promote entrepreneurship among Guyanese women, the Centre for Local Business Development launched its Accelerate-Her and Road to Growth programmes on Thursday.
During a virtual launch, the centre’s director, Natasha Gaskin-Peters, highlighted that the newly- launched programmes will be targetting local women business owners, operators, and managers, to build the leadership and business skills of female entrepreneurs in Guyana to help them grow their companies across a wide variety of industries and sectors.
The programmes, she added, will also see women being more on the forefront of the oil and gas sector.
Gaskin-Peters explained that the “Accelerate-Her” programme is designed to enable the acceleration of small businesses through tailored workshops, access to one-on-one business advisory and mentors, pitch development, and fostering a strong and supportive peer-learning environment for women.

The programme, she pointed out will match a pool of professional mentors with participants based on their professional background and business focus.
In phase one of the Accelerate-Her, 35 participants will participate in a one-week bootcamp on generating a business model canvas, refining their value proposition, and customer and key channels to deliver value. Participants can plan to engage 12-16 hours during the bootcamp week, including group sessions and take-home activities.
In phase two, a cohort of 15 select participants (from the bootcamp) will receive a tailored assessment to identify business strengths and gaps and will then be matched with lead mentors. The nine-week programme culminates in a demo and pitch day to showcase participant businesses to potential partners and investors.
The cohort programme will meet weekly. Participants are expected to dedicate between 8-10 hours per week during the cohort programme, which includes in-person meeting time, mentorship meetings, and self-paced activities.
The programme will run from September – December 2021 and will be delivered over a 10-week period.
Meanwhile, the second programme, which is led by the Cherie Blair Foundation, will run from September – November 2021 and training will be delivered over a seven-week period.
According to Gaskin-Peter, the ‘Women’s Road to Growth’ programme is for women entrepreneurs looking to take their existing businesses to the next level.

The programme, she explained, will be an online and face-to-face business management and investment readiness programme for women entrepreneurs, delivered by expert in-country partners carefully selected by the Foundation.
Over the seven-week period, participants will study the following topics: Knowing Your Market, Digital Marketing, Knowing Your Business, Understanding Financing, Managing Financial Relationships, Applying for Financing and Confidence building.
The programme, she explained, is most appropriate for women whose businesses are at the development and growth stage. It is not suitable for women running businesses at the start-up stage.
Road to Growth will support 25 women in Guyana to grow more successful and sustainable businesses.
Women entrepreneurs seeking to expand their company, access new markets or increase efficiencies and innovation should submit applications for the programmes.
For further information visit the https://centreguyana.com/wep/ website or 592-223-7781