BY SACHA WALTERS, Staff Reporter
A LITTLE MOTIVATION can go a long way. One citizen from South East St. Andrew got the motivation she needed to pursue her dream of owning her own business.
Twenty-six-year-old stay-at-home mother, Sharnette Coleman, who lives in the Kingston 5 area on Slipe Road, was one of the participants in the recent Possibilities Exist seminar. Coleman left with a renewed drive to someday open her own restaurant.
The seminar left a lasting impact on her and was appealing to others as it was originally designed for 300 persons but eventually catered to approximately 450.
Geared towards education and entrepeneurship, according to Neville Wright chairman of South St. Andrew Minister's Fraternal, the seminar was the brainchild of Dr. Omar Davies, the Member of Parliament for that constituency and his team. They came up with the idea during their renovation project after Hurricane Ivan. During this period some amount of training was offered to the workers and they realised that they needed and wanted to work so in an effort to further this, the seminar was planned.
It targeted individuals between 15 and 45 years old who were either unemployed or underemployed and interested in making a change.
Coleman signed up for the hospitality programme from Heart Trust/NTA on the spot and is awaiting a call from the organisation to do a test and pursue her training.
According to Wright, many others did the same and signed up for various opportunities offered by the participating companies like Jamaica National, Small Business Loans Limited and the Jamaica Business Development Centre.
Coleman said she was aware that HEART offered this programme which she has always been interested in, but she did not know the details. She received her training at a community centre near her and in addition she learnt about many other programmes they offered.
According to Wright, there often seems to be this gap in the information that individuals have about the opportunities available and this was an important aspect of the seminar.
It had presentations from Leachim Semaj and Kingsley 'Ragashanti' Stewart and Wright said that these presentations were important as they came from individuals who could give personal experience of their success. It had aspects which dealt with Life Skills and general interview dress and behaviour.
They plan to have another seminar in the future to deal with Education and Entrepeneurship and they are focussing on following up with the individuals who signed up for the various programmes to ensure that they follow through.
Coleman went away with not only pamphlets which she shared with friends but a lot of motivation for herself.
The mother of one is looking forward to pursuing her dream. She said that she has the motivation from family members and friends and her husband, being a chef, gives her knowledge of the business but she wants to get qualified and with this added push she is on her way. "I will get my diploma. I'm sure," she said.
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