By Mabinty M. Kamara
As part of celebrations of Global Entrepreneurship Week, Female entrepreneurs have in a panel discussion urged existing intending business owners to ensure they employ good customer relations and trust for the success of their businesses.
Speaking at an event held at the Bank Complex on Wednesday 15th November 2023, Latoya Garber an entrepreneur encouraged other entrepreneurs to ensure branding and effective customer services so that they can stand out despite the competition.
“If you have to sacrifice profit just to maintain trust and good business relationship, do it,” she said, adding that businesses in Sierra Leone have a small market and that word of mouth cannot be treated with levity. “Don’t eat your capital no matter what,” she emphasized. Highlighting challenges faced especially by female entrepreneurs, she mentioned sexual harassment as a major challenge from potential male partners and sponsors. However, she encouraged her female counterparts to not be discouraged by that or throw their dreams in the bin because of lack of huge capital.
Packaging, customer loyalty, and pulling Down syndrome were part of the challenges highlighted by another panelist, Hawawa Turay- a model who doubles as an entrepreneur. Madam Turay also urged other female entrepreneurs to be steadfast and believe in their dreams with a focus on the available small market. She added that like in every aspect of life, challenges will always come but how one deals with them is what matters. The Award-winning Model emphasized the need to monetize the fashion industry.
Speaking to Politico, the event’s host, Francis Steven George Head of Innovation SL said his organization has been commemorating the global entrepreneurship week since 2021 through several activities including pitch competitions for entrepreneurs.
For this year, he said his institution received a 15 thousand dollar support from Mercury International which is what they are dishing out to the winners of the pitching competition. He added that the activities are aimed at exposing entrepreneurs to potential investors and sponsors among other partnership opportunities.
This year’s activities he said started at the Institute of Public Administration and Management, University of Sierra Leone in a bid to blend university education and entrepreneurship. “We have a lot of youth unemployment in Africa because people from the university with the expectation of being employed and there are not many employers to readily employ the graduates that the universities produce yearly,” he said.
“That is why we want to introduce entrepreneurship at that level so that by the time they graduate, they should be able to manage their own businesses and if possible employ other youths,” he went on.
George said that their aim is to have 25% of everything used in Sierra Leone to be made in Sierra Leone by 2025. The pitching event was also attended by school –pupils.
Copyright © 2023 Politico (17/11/23)
