BASSETERRE ST. KITTS (May 19, 2009) -- Nikelle Newton of upper Market Street celebrated her 24th birthday on Friday April 17, 2009 in a fairy-tale vogue thanks to the Youth Empowerment through Skill (YES) programme. After a painful false start, the YES Programme came to her rescue and on that day she joined the ranks of the nation’s young entrepreneurs.
The single mother of one, who had always harboured the dream of opening a hair salon since she was a young girl attending primary school at Beach Allen, is today the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Diamond in the Sky Beauty Salon located in her home district, upper Market Street in Basseterre, which she opened for business on her birthday.
“I had a bit of training in hairdressing, as a family member has a beauty salon where I had been going since I was a child and that is where I picked up my hairdressing skills,” said Nikelle as she attended a customer’s hair. Even after she joined the Washington Archibald High School, the dream did not go away.
On leaving school, she remained at home assisting in babysitting and people who knew that she had hairdressing skills would come to her, and she would do their hair. She is one person whose dreams could not be easily put down and she tells how she wanted to come out of the house and operate in a professional way because she knew that she was ripe for that challenge. All that she needed was empowerment.
In December last year she borrowed money from relatives and friends and went on the internet and ordered, from the USA, the required hairdressing equipment - ready to move. But that was not to be, because when the equipment arrived at the airport, it was held by the customs. She did not have the money to clear the goods.
She had earlier identified the building where her salon is located, which is owned by a lady in the community. “When I thought about opening a salon, I contacted her and I asked her for permission to rent her place and she gave me the yes, and I started painting, fixing up and doing the basic stuff but I did not have the ability to move any further, so I stalled.”
Then she heard of the YES Programme which was to be launched by the Prime Minister, the Hon Dr Denzil Douglas, at Warner Park on Friday February 13 this year. She attended the launch ceremony and was interested in the prospects the programme was presenting to the youth as articulated by the Prime Minister. She decided to pay them a visit.
“When I went to YES Programme to apply, they told me that mine was a good idea and that they had a position in the programme where they help people to open the first businesses,” recalled Nikelle. “I was asked to fill in some forms after which we had a procedure and evaluation that we went through and here I am today.”
According to her, she was offered a loan through the Development Bank of Saint Kitts and Nevis and with that money she was able to clear her equipment at the customs and pay off all the people from whom she had borrowed. All she has to do now is to pay the bank. She views it as being a consolidation loan.
“The YES Programme has stood for me because the bank would have asked for collateral which I would not have raised,” said Nikelle. “I want to say that the YES Programme is a very good one, as it offers good opportunities for young people who want to do something in life even if they do not have the ability to start, or even to learn a trade.
“We have a lot of people saying different things and have different opinions (about the programme) but I will say different because you could see the difference. The YES Programme presents a very good opportunity for young people and I would suggest it to persons who are not working and want help in getting themselves on their feet for 2009 and beyond.”
Since she opened her business, she has new clients including those through the YES Programme who have been coming to the salon to see what she has in store for persons.
“I have persons who are involved in the YES Programme, who are supporting me in my business and coming to do their hair,” she said. “To me, it is a unity thing. It is something that young people are trying to get themselves together – it offers a sense of togetherness, but for any person trying to stop the togetherness, I really think that is a bad thing. I see the good in the YES Programme.”
Senior Projects Officer at the Development Bank of Saint Kitts and Nevis, Shavon Douglas, explained that servicing members of the YES Programme through the institution is a joint venture between the government and the bank. The government is providing the funding at a much reduced rate as opposed to normal loans.
“We are administering and managing the portfolio as is the usual,” said Douglas. “Essentially where we come in is we assist persons who would have been seen fit and already enrolled on the YES Programme, have a business initiative and we assist them in putting the information together so they could actually move on to apply for their loans at Project Department within the bank.”
The YES Programme is housed in the Development Bank building on the corner of Church and Central streets in Basseterre, and according to the Senior Projects Officer, where the persons applying for such loans need business plans, bank officers assist them in putting the information together, collect all the material that they would need be it write-ups or in terms of getting costing, sourcing the materials and the equipment that may be necessary for getting their venture started and up and running.
“Once they would have become functional we would do regular checks on them, not just to ensure that they are paying back but just to ensure that if they have any needs, any areas of concern that they are uncertain about we want to be like partners out there for them as opposed to just giving them funding and leaving them to sink or swim on their own,” commented Douglas.
“We want to provide that arm of support to them especially in these difficult times,” he added. “At this stage they do not need collateral. The start-up loans are basically soft loans and as it is now the bracket might be just around 5,000 dollars, so that way we are waiving the usual requirements in terms of collateral, just to ease and make the process of providing the loans smooth.”
