NINETEEN women entrepreneurs on Saturday successfully completed the Centre for Local Business Development (CLDB) entrepreneurship programme, Accelerate-Her 2.0 and received their certificates during a ceremony at the Pegasus Suites in Kingston.

The businesswomen who completed the programme came from across Guyana.

They are involved in various business types ranging from real estate and child care, to agro processing and transportation services. They commended the training programme, saying that it has equipped them to now grow their respective businesses.

“My time here at Accelerate-Her has made me think of how to push the business long term so I’m excited about that,” shared Tiffany Durant, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Manager at Durant Property Management Inc.

Durant learnt about the Accelerate-Her programme via social media and decided to sign up because she thought it would be an invaluable learning experience.

“It was a time in Guyana where everyone is looking for areas to grow in and I thought that this would be perfect for me. There aren’t a lot of free programmes that push you and challenge you and give you all of these free resources so that played a major factor also,” she said.

Carlotta John, owner of Children R Us Day Care and Nursery School, also spoke about how much she took away from the programme

“I would’ve learnt so much. How to budget, how to market and so on. It has helped me so much and it was such a great programme,” John commented.

The Accelerate-Her 2.0 targeted women owners, operators and managers to build their leadership and business skills to grow their companies across a wide variety of industries and sectors. The programme is part of the CLBD’s direct assistance to female businesses.

The programme receive financial support from the Greater Guyana Initiative, which is funded by the Stabroek Block co-venturers Exxon Mobil, Hess and CNOOC.

Applications for the Accelerate-Her 2.0 programme were advertised in March, with the centre receiving some 130 applications. Of that list, 35 of the women were shortlisted for Phase One of the programme, while from that number 19 were shortlisted for Phase Two.

Phase One featured a three-day boot camp where the 35 participants engaged with peer and mentor connections, brainstorming for growth, pitch development and building business model canvases.

Meanwhile, in Phase Two, the 19 participants took part in a further 12-week mentorship and entrepreneurship experience where they benefited from courses covering pitch development and delivery, market research and sizing, digital marketing, impact measurement assessment, financial management and operations and exporting, among other skills.

The ladies were also paired one on one with a volunteer mentor from the business community, including mentors from Exxon Mobil Guyana, Baker Hughes, GTT, Matpal Marine Institute and others.

The entrepreneurship experience culminated with a “Demo Day”, which celebrated the skills that they worked to refine during the programme. On Saturday, during the closing ceremony, the 19 businesses presented their refined business pitch and held a business showcase to members of the business community, potential buyers, investors and mentors.

CLBD Director, Dr. Natasha Gaskin-Peters commended the women on successfully completing the programme.

“As we bring Accelerate-Her 2.0 to a close, I must comment the 19 entrepreneurs sitting in front of me today. These ladies have elevated their business through training and mentorship focused on key gaps they were able to identify in their businesses. They have been through a very fast paced 13-week programme which helped them to better define their business today and plan for growth tomorrow,” Dr. Gaskin-Peters said, adding:  “As Guyana’s economy continues to grow, we will see the increased need for more businesses in all economic sectors. These ladies have taken the first step towards benefiting from that growth.”