Elon Alonzo is an entrepreneur born and raised in Linden, Guyana. She attended President’s College, University of Guyana, and the University of the West Indies. As a child, she spent her time in school and the remaining time assisting with her grandfather’s factory, which taught Elon the values of education and entrepreneurship.
“I am also very passionate about service and volunteered as a Rotaractor; there I found a passion for Professional Development and Project Management,” she said.
Those helped her to develop certain skills and now she is a Project Manager, part time lecturer, and a Career Development Practitioner.
Sunbeam was birthed out of Elon’s job loss. “While trying to figure out my next steps for my career I felt that even with education there was something else that I needed to successfully transition to, and I set out to determine this. I executed thesis research and found that many like myself lacked confidence and felt they did not have adequate tools for their career development,” Elon added.
Upon her return home, she decided to launch Sunbeam and grow it to be an institution that can create action-oriented individuals who through learning and development can reach their goals and career desires.
Sunbeam Career Development was launched in 2020, during the pandemic. During that period Elon and her team hosted a 5-day workshop called Jumpstart. “It was out of seeing the outpouring of requests of more than 100 individuals to have a sustainable means for individuals to access career development that we began to create courses that can reach individuals from anywhere or anytime catering for their needs for accessibility,” she mentioned.
The young entrepreneur continued by saying, “We created Jumpstart, a program teaching 7 skills to Youth with the aim of helping them to transition from education to employment. I decided to follow my advice and access education and training and in 2021 embarked on getting training in Coaching and Learner centred conversations.”
In 2022, to be a better entrepreneur, Elon pursued business management skills and received a wealth of knowledge, support and guidance through the Cherie Blair Road to Growth and Access to Finance courses and the CLDB’s Accelerate-Her program.
During that time, she learnt how to better develop and package the various products and services we offer.
Today Sunbeam offers a range of professional development products and services and are in pilot testing mode to launch new courses.
Currently, Sunbeam offers Organisational Behavior, Career Preparation, Academic Preparation, and we will be launching a programme of 5 communication courses soon.
They also offer Resume Writing and Career Guidance services along with Training. Most of our services can be accessed at a starting price of $3000.
“I usually do the business planning and operation outside of work hours. I create mini projects and work towards meeting the deadlines. It requires a lot of focus and some sacrifice of personal time. I look at managing the business as another part of my career development and I work towards development and pilot testing to create products and services that can be accessed through a seamless and self-managed process via our online platform,” Elon noted when asked how she manages time between her various activities.
Last year, Elon felt like she didn’t have the required know-how and self-confidence on how to effectively manage her business. This thought weighed heavy on her and at the beginning of the year between that and feeling burnt out, she thought of taking a break.
She mentioned, “I decided to shift my mindset to be one where I can take up the opportunity to learn. I saw Access to Finance and Accelerate Her programmes and signed up. It provided a community that motivated me to seek training and capacity development and surround myself with like-minded individuals who were conquering challenges every day. With every class and challenge, I saw myself being more exposed and building that aptitude for resilience and approaching business,”
Last December, she had the opportunity to train youth from 11 communities along the Berbice River. And in that moment, she felt proud of how her business grew. She was also proud of being able to offer learning and development opportunities to youth all across Guyana.
“I am also proud of the individuals who were able to access opportunities for a new job through our resume services or became more confident in their academic and career choices in our Career guidance sessions,” she further added.
In the future, Sunbeam will be embarking on the development of a wide range of courses to focus on individuals in Careers and even those in business. Elon intends to turn Sunbeam into an academy offering various professional development training courses and other services to various Caribbean-based countries.
“Understand your Why. This will push you forward when things get tough and it will help you to be firm on your vision and the opportunities you take,” is Elon’s advice to youth.
Sunbeam Career Development can be contacted on Facebook or 592-641-4342. Our courses and services can also be accessed via www.iamsunbeam.org
