Overwhelming response to WE LIFT Essequibo – 50 women owned businesses showcased

The Anna Regina Town Council on Wednesday, held its first-ever WE LIFT Essequibo and it
received overwhelming support from the Cinderella County’s residents.
The Human Services and Social Security Ministry and the Regional Gender Affairs Committee
of Region Two collaborated to execute the initiative, which showcased over 50 of the county’s
most promising female-owned businesses. Human Services Minister, Dr. Vindhya Persaud
officially launched the event by showering praises on the women for their innovations and
contributions towards the development of the country.
Dr. Persaud appealed to them not to confine themselves in boxes but rather push to achieve
anything they set their minds on. She reiterated the various opportunities that her Ministry is
providing for citizens including its WIIN training programme. The minister reflected on
discussions that suggested that the objective of world gender equality would not be achieved in
2030 and would not be achieved for another 700 years.
Minister Persaud argued that she would like to see this become a reality as soon as possible, in
Guyana. She said that this is important with the Ministry providing extensive training in the areas
of shared responsibilities, empowerment, technical vocational skills and other areas relating to
gender equality. “To achieve gender equality it starts with every person understanding that there
is space for each person, there is a place for every voice and there is an openness for every
contribution big or small…The Ministry of Human Services is passionate about the support we
give to women and men, this event is called WE LIFT and has come to Region Two not by
coincidence but by design, in collaboration with the RGAC of Region Two…If you lift someone
up you elevate them beyond barriers, limitations and everything that can prevent them from
everything they can be, WE LIFT stands for ‘Women Empowering Leading Innovating and
Flourishing Together,” Dr. Persaud said.
Minister Persaud revealed that the event also saw patrons enjoyed an Indian dance presentation
by Lalita Saytoo along with musical renditions by Joan Henry, Wendell Walcott and Jonica
Walcott. The audience moved and sang along as the Regional Men’s Group performed an
acrostic, using every letter of the word ‘woman’ to describe what a woman means to them.
Inspirational messages were shared by Poonwattie Jaigobin and Vanessa Butters.
Rajendra Prabhulall, Mayor of Anna Regina, expressed happiness and support for the works of
the minister and her ministry. He said that he remains impressed by what is being done to aid in
the development of Essequibo. “This is great, a lot of women owned businesses came out, lots of
excitement in the commercial sphere, this is truly fantastic in helping women with their business
and empower them so they can be their own bosses, I am very happy for this and I commend the
effort of Minister Persaud, she has been doing really well and the next time I am sure it would be
bigger,” Mayor Prabhulall said.
The only female-owned gym in Essequibo, which is operated by Qurian Spellen and dubbed
Qurian Body Beautiful Gym,’ already serves approximately 50 females. Spellen admitted that

the event provided her a platform to network more and engage a lot of people who were not
aware of her gym and their tailored programmes for women.
Proprietor of Aunty Otia’s creation, Swetlana Kingston, revealed that it is initiatives like these
that help women in business to explore and engage others to grow their business further. It was
noted that Kingston operated in a male-dominated environment from her schooling where she
was the only female in the Technology stream before working for 14 years at a power company
where she again was the only female. “It was a really wonderful initiative from the Ministry of
Human Service and I trust that this will be an annual event that can grow larger in the years to
come,” Kingston explained.
Meanwhile, Korishma Jaigobin said, “it has been really great initiative to see women can support
women especially to see the Minister being here, it shows that we are capable of doing anything,
I was overwhelmed to see so many strong and inspiring women across the coastline.”