Charlene's Styleline: The story continues

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  Ms. Charlene Palmer is one of the best seamstresses that South Trinidad has and is also the most loving person you would ever meet. As we talked about her business and who she is as an entrepreneur, she constantly smiled and I felt right at home with her. these are a few of the questions I asked.

     Me: What ignited the spark in you to start a new business venture or to make significant changes in an existing business? How did the idea for your business come about?

     

     Charlene: I had a part time job and money was limited. So I started two business just to see which one will take off the most. Catering cakes and pastry and Fashion Design. Both took off. But went into Fashion Design.

      

      Me: What three pieces of advice would you give to college students who want to become entrepreneurs?

     Charlene:Three pieces of advice. Be excited to try new things,  Sacrifice = Success and Love what you do.

      Me: Excluding yours, what company or business do you admire the most?

     Charlene: I totally admire Claudia Pegus and Ecliff Elie. They are the best designers to me in Trinidad right now.

      Me: Where you see yourself and your business in 10 years? 20 years? 

Designed by Charlene

      Charlene: In the next ten years I will have stores just like what Radical Designs did years ago.

     Me: If you had the chance to start your career over again, what would you do differently? 

     Charlene: If i had to start over there are some things i would do differently. I have had some clients since 1999. And the formula is that I am always willing to go the distance with what they want but also offer

something different, a one of a kind piece.

Creation by Charlene


Take a look at this video and enjoy the show.I hope you get some advice from entrepreneur Magaret Islander

Introducing Charlene's Styleline

Good morning fellow entrepreneurs, today I want to take this time to highlight a successful and prominent Southerner who has made it her business to make others beautiful. Introducing Ms Charlene Palmer, owner of Charlene's Styleline.

Charlene Palmer hails from San Fernando and absolutely loves doing what she does and might I say she does it exceptionally well. She has recently completed a course from YTEPP, Fabric Design and has her eyes set on pursuing another course in this field. Charlene is a member of Empowerment Temple International and enjoys many other activities other than the one she is renowned for.


Stay tuned for Part 2 of the story of Charlene's Styleline

Applique done by Charlene Palmer


Here's a link to this entrepreneur's album on Photobucket
http://s48.photobucket.com/user/akemecabdullah/library/Charlene%20StyleLine

Self Made Millionaire

Warren Edward Buffett  is an  American business magnate, investor and philanthropist. He was the most successful investor of the 20th century. Buffett is the chairman, CEO and largest share holder of Berkshire Hathaway,and consistently ranked among the world's wealthiest people. He was ranked as the world's wealthiest person in 2008 and as the third wealthiest in 2011.In 2012 Time named Buffett one of the world's most influential people.

Buffett worked from 1951 to 1954 at Buffett-Falk & Co. as an investment salesman; from 1954 to 1956 at Graham-Newman Corp., as a securities analyst; from 1956 to 1969 at Buffett Partnership, Ltd. as a general partner and beginning in 1970 as Berkshire Hathaway Inc's Chairman and CEO.

By 1950, at 20, Buffett had made and saved $9,800 . In April 1952, Buffett discovered that Graham was on the board of GEICO insurance. Taking a train to Washington, D.C. on a Saturday, he knocked on the door of GEICO's headquarters until a janitor admitted him. There he met Lorimer Davidson, Geico's Vice President, and the two discussed the insurance business for hours. Davidson would eventually become Buffett's lifelong friend and a lasting influence and would later recall that he found Buffett to be an "extraordinary man" after only fifteen minutes. Buffett wanted to work on Wallstreet, however, both his father and Ben Graham urged him not to. He offered to work for Graham for free, but Graham refused.

Buffett returned to Omaha and worked as a stockbroker while taking a Dale Carnegie public speaking course. Using what he learned, he felt confident enough to teach an "Investment Principles" night class at University of Nebraska, Omaha.

In 1962, Buffett became a millionaire because of his partnerships, which in January 1962 had an excess of $7,178,500, of which over $1,025,000 belonged to Buffett.

Buffett became a paper billionaire when Berkshire Hathaway began selling class A shares on May 29, 1990, with the market closing at US$7,175 a share.

 Warren Buffet may not be a local Trinidadian but he is still a man, a human being like you and I and from these facts, I believe that with determinatiuon, drive and a good idea, an entrepreneur is made and is successful. this video lends some advice to us entrepreneurs from Warren Buffet.

Entrepreneurial Funding in Trinidad (Part 1)

Readers after all is said and done to help entrepreneurs reach their true and full potential one major aspect still eludes us. Where does the funding for these ideas come from? Where can I get funding to help build my idea? Today we will take a look at one of our lending institutions geared towards helping our people leave off their 8-4 jobs and start thinking outside the box. 

Today we will be looking at Nedco. Click the link below to go directly to their website.

http://nedco.wc.modone.net/

"In 2002, the Government of Trinidad & Tobago established the National Entrepreneurship Development Company Limited (NEDCO) with a mandate to develop small and micro businesses whose needs could not be met by traditional lending agencies. Trinidad & Tobago’s economic success rests on our ability to diversify the economy and develop a thriving class of successful entrepreneurs. That’s where NEDCO comes in: we help you take your small or micro business idea from a dream to reality by giving you the skills, training and financial support you need to run a successful business."

The services provided by NEDCO is focused on the development of the entrepreneur and not just the development of the business. Their aim is to empower the individual with not only the monetary aspect but also to enhance the skills of the individual by offering training. 

Youth Business of Trinidad and Tobago

Trinidad good for so yes. The youths are not all bad. In this blog we will take a look at the site called Youth Business Trinidad and Tobago where there are various forums and resources entailed to help the youth entrepreneur. Click the link below to help you get back to the Youth Business website.

http://www.ybtt.org/ 






"Youth Business Trinidad and Tobago (YBTT) is an accredited programme of Youth Business International (YBI) an international network of youth business programmes. With the support of the business community, YBTT helps young persons to work for themselves by providing access to business loans and business mentoring.
YBTT had its genesis in February 2000 during the visit of HRH The Prince of Wales to Trinidad and Tobago. It was incorporated as a Non-Profit Company and was registered as a charitable body in accordance with the Corporation Tax Act of Trinidad and Tobago. The company was officially launched in January 2001 and commenced its loan programme shortly thereafter.
Our principal partnership is with the business community. Directors of YBTT are all from the local business community and steer the organisation by seeking funding, participating in loan panels and building local and international support.
YBTT also encourages our corporate sponsors to place business mentors with each individual/business funded through our organisation. In doing so, the potential for business success is greatly improved." 

This is how the website lends itself to an introductory welcome. The website is geared to helping the youths by showcasing other entrepreneurs and lending support to upcoming young people who want to start their own business. Kudos to YBTT... a chance for the youth to rise to the occasion.

Passion Alone Is Not Enough to Open a Business

In my last blog I introduced to you all ?Ms Walters of Resurgent Cosmetics. During the interview she mentioned her passion for what she does and though I am quite impressed by her various techniques and skills it made me wonder, is passion alone enough? I did some research and came across this article. I hope that it will answer some of your questions as it did mine. you can click on the link to read the entire article itself as I have only highlighted a portion of it.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/237746?newsletter=true


"Small-business owners usually start a company because they have a passion for a

particular product or service. However, people should not open a bakery just because they love baking cakes. If you love baking, get a job as a baker.

The minute you open a bakery, you’ll discover that there is a lot more to it than German chocolate and red velvet. You’ll have to wait on customers, keep the books, order inventory and sweep the floors. Open a bakery because you want to run a business and you happen to have a great cake recipe.

There are many functions associated with running a business. Before you quit your day job, make sure that you know how each of these functions is going to be handled.

The first step for most entrepreneurs is to sell something. Put in place the minimum amount of infrastructure that you can get by with and focus on generating revenue. Many new businesses fail because they simply cannot generate enough revenue to sustain themselves. Test the viability of your business as quickly and as inexpensively as possible.

While we recommend minimum infrastructure during this start up phase, there are some things you will need. For example, in many counties, you’ll need a business license. You’ll want to keep track of the revenue you generate and all of your business expenses for filing taxes.

To minimize expense, you’ll want to handle as much of this as you can personally in the beginning. However, it’s wise to reach out to people who have expertise you lack. Initially, you should minimize the infrastructure you build, do as much of the work as you can yourself and outsource those items where you lack expertise. You are in effect buying yourself more time that you can invest in other aspects of the business. The investment is a wise one when the value you create by spending your time in these aspects of the business exceeds what you have to pay to make this time for yourself."

Resurgent Cosmetics

Ms Walters, owner of Resurgent Cosmetics

This blog will feature this week's entrepreneur Ms. Veronique Walter, owner of Resurgent Cosmetics. The interview was short and to the point so here goes:

Me: Good morning Ms Walters

Ms Walters: Good morning Akeme, you can call me Veronique.

Me: Ok Veronique, how are you? I am glad you agreed to do this interview with me.

Ms. Walters: I am happy to oblige you and also very excited about this blog. First let me start by saying Resurgent Cosmetics is a handmade skin care and hair care line designed to fit into the multicultural landscapes of Trinidad and Tobago and also the Caribbean. There is an abundance of herbs fruits and botanical that a widely available in Trinidad that possess amazing skin care properties which is blended with other highly prized global botanical and oils to create a product line that is suitable for our skin and hair care needs.

Me: Wow Veronique, what a passion. You answered a few of my questions before I even asked them. Well let me ask you Why did you decide to own your own business? And what made you go into this particular field?

Ms. Walters: Well Akeme,  Resurgent Cosmetics was started because of my interest in cosmetic ingredients. Because of this I would constantly research ingredients that appeared on my product bottle. As an Esthetican I was curious to know and understand the ingredients I used not only on  myself but also my clientele. I began to notice that there were a lot of fillers that made up the bulk of the product but the ingredients that was needed were few. Some products would contain chemicals were an irritant to the skin. I began experiment with different essential oil, vitamins  and botanical stuff which I incorporated into my facial mask which was purchased from an overseas supplier. I had great results but before long I wanted to have full control over the development of the products  I used. That was the birth of Resurgent Cosmetics a line of products that contained ingredients that worked without fillers and harmful skin irritants.

I love Resurgent Cosmetics, I love creating these amazing products and connecting with customer and clients. It is so satisfying to receive feed back from customers as it really gives me a sense of accomplishment. I welcome the negatives with the positives, a negative review simply means there are some stuff that needs to be tweaked in order to make a better product. My passion for this line don't allow me to quit or give up despite challenges I continue.....that's what being RESURGENT is all about.

Stay tuned for more... In the meantime take a look at this entrepreneurs picture album on Photobucket.
http://s48.photobucket.com/user/akemecabdullah/library/Resurgent%20Cosmetics