(www.kaieteurnews.com) Stakeholders, businessmen and budding entrepreneurs were most impressed with an entrepreneurship workshop held yesterday which avoided fancy jargon, theories and strategies, and got down to the irritants of the business world as well as sought to provide practical and innovative tips on how to overcome them.

It was so inspiring that some entrepreneurs renamed it the “tips-for-success” workshop.
The seminar was held by the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) at Duke Lodge, Kingston.
There were several presenters slated for this event including Dr. Rosh Khan, Director of Social Rank Media, Mr. Nigel Samaroo, Manager of Scotiabank, Ms. Cathy Hughes, Director of Videomega Productions and Mr. Jewsuan Edmondson, Marketing Specialist attached to Republic Bank Guyana Limited.
In his opening remarks, President of the GCCI, Lance Hinds, reminded the attendees of the harsh realities of being an entrepreneur. He said that it is not always an easy road and if one is accustomed to a regular salary when the month nears its end, then one needs to come into the entrepreneurial world with a seriously altered perspective.
“It takes belly,” Hinds stressed, to start, continue and maintain the momentum of this world. But nonetheless, once the hard work is done the benefits, he assured, are endless.
Dr. Rosh Khan shared with the audience his personal life stories and how he became inspired to become an entrepreneur of one of the leading social media sites, regionally, and which is also making its name known on the international scene.
Dr. Khan shared with his audience ten practical yet eye-opening steps that can take one’s business from being lost in an abyss of failed approaches to ultimate success.
Mr. Samaroo for his presentation highlighted to the ambitious entrepreneurs present that understanding the importance of a market, the competition and the usefulness of the product to be introduced to the market, can put one in a better position to determine their failure or success. He hinted that some persons may want the profits and benefits that come with being an entrepreneur, but hard work is often one of the factors that reveal to them that they may not be cut out for entrepreneurship.
He then asked those at the seminar to answer a few basic questions to understand whether or not they are on the right track to being a true business person.
Some of these questions included; Are you willing to take risks? Are you willing to work long hours? Have you done market research? Have you determined your start-up costs?
At the end of the questions, only about 20 percent of the audience answered in the affirmative.
Samaroo stressed on the importance of a businessman or woman having the right approach and a genuine interest for the industry, as they might very well end up with a half-done project.
He then offered several tips that can be used to get one’s business off the ground. The Manager pointed one of those tips to be a sound business plan, for this, he said, shows a sense of preparedness to some bankers who are often willing to lend money once everything is in place. He mentioned too, that for help with knowing how to get a most impressive business plan, tips are also available online at www.scotiabank.com/Small-Businessý.
At the conclusion of the seminar, most of the entrepreneurs said that they felt as though they actually learned many practical ways to improve their business.
One businessman said, “Ever so often we have a lot of workshops that don’t get down to the truth. There are difficulties that we as businessmen face and sometimes we need new ways to fix them, but we don’t have the right tools. I am really happy about this workshop because for the first time I felt like I really learned a lot. It was real people sharing real tips with us and that is what we need. I would encourage the Chamber to continue in this same way. They have no idea how useful this exercise has been.”
Other entrepreneurs expressed great satisfaction with the workshop and deemed it to be a major success.