Three Women Receive $1.5M in Business Grants from First Lady

In observance of International Women’s Day on March 8, First Lady Mrs. Arya Ali awarded business grants totaling $1.5 million to three women to help expand their small businesses, according to a statement released by her office.

The recipients of the grants are 31-year-old Saudia Edghill of Buxton, ECD; 36-year-old Junice Welcome of Kuru Kururu on the Soesdyke-Linden Highway; and 46-year-old Bena Outar of Mahaicony, Mahaica-Berbice. Ms. Outar specializes in the distribution of agrochemicals, Ms. Welcome operates a daycare facility, and Ms. Edghill produces patriotic gift items.

All three women were participants in the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women’s HerVenture programme and the Road to Growth training platform, which provides women with business development training.

This year, International Women’s Day is being observed under the theme “Accelerate Action,” and First Lady Arya Ali emphasized that this aligns with her office’s goals.

“Accelerating action means speeding up what we do to achieve gender parity, and part of that involves making direct investments in the lives of women to ensure they are empowered,” Mrs. Ali stated. “We’ve seen a spate of domestic violence cases, some of which have ended in murder, and one of the root causes is that many of our women are not economically empowered. So, we are working aggressively to change that.”

The First Lady also noted that, in addition to financial support for their businesses, technical assistance will be provided to help the women scale and expand their operations. This support will come from business coaches Mr. Keon Smith and Ms. Upasna Mudlier of ActionCOACH.

She further encouraged the recipients to extend similar support to other women, whether through offering employment or guidance in starting their own businesses.

“I hope that this gesture inspires you to support other women who may need employment or guidance to start their own businesses. We have a responsibility to each other as women, and I want to remind you that we rise by lifting others,” she added.

In addition to the business grants, the First Lady’s office has also supported other women’s initiatives, including 60 women from Indigenous communities who have received technical maritime and offshore training, 45 women in Region Two who have been trained in cosmetology, and 45 women who were victims of domestic violence, who have received training through a partnership with the Carnegie School of Home Economics.