‘Young and old’ advised to learn a skill

The Department of Adult and Continuing Education (ACE), has seen many success stories, and older persons are being encouraged to join the programme and set themselves on the journey towards entrepreneurship.
This came from one of the recent graduates of the Spa Therapy course, Kim Holder.

Holder, who was registered in the 2023/2024 academic year, was able to launch her business, Hill Top Spa, which is located in her home community, Biabou.

Holder spoke to SEARCHLIGHT at the Friday, September 13, 2024 Exhibition hosted by the Department as part of its week of activities. The exhibition featured former participants in the range of skills training programmes offered by ACE, including cake making, garment construction, bamboo craft, beauty therapy as well as food preparation.

She said as a result of the course, she was able to hone her massaging skills and gain the confidence to set up her own small business.

“Business is improving and I am getting more clientele coming… doing this [course] now helped to develop the business more.”

Capitalizing on the lack of spa services available on the South Windward side of the mainland, Holder turned a portion of her home into a massaging studio. She described the programme as a game-changer for her and advised “young and old” to take up the course offerings.

“I would advise the young and the old to learn a course. In the end, it is something you are going to develop and improve yourself from. You can be your own entrepreneur, whether you are old or you are young.”

Owner of Jessy Soup Delight and Soul Food, Jessica Smith, has found similar success since she launched her business just after the 2021 eruption of La Soufriere Volcano. She was one of 38 women selected to receive grant funding from the Taiwan-backed Women’s Empowerment Project (WEP), and has found joy in satisfying the hunger of many customers in Kingstown daily.

She said while entrepreneurship is enjoyable, finding a balance between purchasing raw materials and maintaining prices which are affordable to customers has been a challenge.

“Trying to sell quality food at a budget where you know you can meet the people, but in the meantime you are looking to make a profit… sometimes that is so hard to do because prices are always going up.”

Zonal Coordinator for Zone 8, Hayden Ferdinard, told SEARCHLIGHT there is a wealth of success stories coming out of both the skills training and academic programmes.

“We have a lot of what we call success stories. People that dropped out of school would’ve gained CXC. Some would have attended [Community ]College, and some went on to be teachers. Other persons who did garment making, cake preparation and food preparation- some of them have their own small businesses.”

He said the department is seeking out ways to get more males involved in the programmes going forward.
Registration for 2024/2025 courses with the Department of Adult and Continuing Education commence on September 30.