Four Lessons I Learned Selling Tamarind Balls In Primary School

Nov 3,2022 / By kimron / No Comment

I was 9 or 10 years old, in primary school (St Andrew Anglican Primary School). I remember daily my peers selling different things at school during break time, whether it was candies, cakes, tamarind balls, or anything that kids in primary school would buy.

Bet On Yourself If You Want To Win In Business And Life- Kevaughan Graham on Dropping Bars

Oct 4,2022 / By kimron / No Comment

I speak with Entrepreneur and Philanthropist Mr. Kevaughan Graham this week on Dropping Bars. In this episode, Kavaughan dropped some incredible nuggets of wisdom with us, such as “You cannot do great things with basic people.”

How Kenrick Quashie From St Vincent is Helping to Bring The Caribbean Entrepreneurial Community Together

Apr 5,2018 / By kimron / No Comment

Today I feature the someone who just like me, has a passion for fostering a culture of entrepreneurship in the Caribbean. Kenrick Quashie has been “entrepreneering” since he completed his university education and today he talks to me about his journey starting Global DOmination. Kenrick offers two key services, first, providing a platform for entrepreneurs and aspiring to come together as well as a platform for giving entrepreneurs access to funding, talk about Global DOmination. Take a look at Kenrick’s story below.

How Jai Nice is Building a Fashion Empire and Dominating the Internet.

Feb 13,2018 / By kimron / No Comment

Today on “How They Did It” I feature the internet fashion sensation Jai Nice. Her clothing brand Kloset Envy instantly became popular with a following of over 642,000 people. Her personal brand has a following of 1.3 million people, talk about impressive. Jai shares a little bit of her story with me about how at the age of 18 she developed her first business plan before moving to LA to live with her sister. She started off buy buying and selling vintage clothing. She would invest the money back into the business. First she bought a website then wholesale clothes before moving into designing full time. Through designing she built a strong relationship with a lot of manufactures and now currently owns her own manufacturing company. Lets take a more indept look into the creative mind behind Kloset Envy

How Bajan Entrepreneur Monique Mayers Built A Thriving Consultancy That Transcends Borders

Jan 9,2018 / By kimron / No Comment

Today on “How They Did It” I feature the Idea Alchemist herself, Mrs. Monique Mayers. Monique is an entrepreneur extraordinaire from Barbados, based currently in Toronto. Today we talk about the journey she went through to become who she is today.

How Tech Entrepreneur Cenus Hinds Built Technology Company in St Vincent and the Grenadines

Jan 2,2018 / By kimron / No Comment

Today on “How They Did It” I feature Cenus Hinds, a 22-year-old tech entrepreneur from St Vincent and the Grenadines. Cenus is the creative genius behind Konservi, a technology company in the Caribbean responsible for Tapp – a mobile application that shows deals, promotions, and events and allows you to purchase these using credit/debit card payments. This is Cenus story.

How Johanan Dujon Built An Agricultural Biotech Company in St Lucia

Nov 28,2017 / By kimron / No Comment

Today on “How They Did It” I talk to 24 old year St Lucian entrepreneur Johanan Dujon. Founder of Algas Organics, the Caribbean’s first indigenous agriculture biotech company. We talk about his life as a physical education teacher and how he got involved in entrepreneurship and some of the obstacles such as access to finance and age that he had to overcome.

How Tamarind Balls, White Envelopes, and Art will Create a Successful Storytelling Entrepreneur in 2017

Jan 1,2017 / By kimron / No Comment

My life’s ultimate goal is to become a very successful storytelling entrepreneur, which I am currently preparing myself for. In my small digital marketing hustle, I assist small businesses, start-ups, and entrepreneurs with innovative digital strategies that lure and satisfy potential and returning clients. In addition, I am currently working on honing my storytelling skills, and by December 2017, at the end of my Master of Digital Media Programme, I will create a storytelling journal. The journal will include the different structures for telling stories in a digital world and demonstrate how to engineer those stories for spreadability.

From my interaction with many successful entrepreneurs, many of them share common stories about hustling and starting businesses as children such running lemonade stands and servicing paper routes. Consequently, I decided to look at my past to see if I was entrepreneurial back in the day. I started thinking about my days in Grenada when I attended St. Andrew’s Anglican Primary School. Did I do anything that was entrepreneurial there? I certainly didn’t have a lemonade stand; however, I remember my tamarind ball hustle. When I was young, I remember seeing vendors in the town of Grenville selling tamarind balls to passersby and thought to myself, what if I took the same concept but sold tamarind balls in my school? I already had access to the main ingredient because there was a huge tamarind tree next to my house, but the startup capital came in the form of a dollar I borrowed from my mom to buy the sugar for my business venture. Once everything was in place, I started making and selling tamarind balls to my schoolmates. I remember the first day I sold out. I couldn’t believe it; the feeling was indescribable. Admittedly, while writing this piece, the nostalgia reignited that said feeling, and I started smiling ridiculously.

Soon, tamarind went out of season; however, because of my initial experience, I somehow caught the entrepreneurial bug and moved on to another venture, an envelope hustle. Put simply; I sold white envelopes to my classmates. Up to this day, I can’t remember where I got the envelopes from, nor do I know why my classmates were buying them in the first place since they had no need for them. As a matter of fact, upon reflection, I now feel bad about this, but the envelope hustle didn’t last long. Firstly, before going further, however, I must admit that my next venture was the epitome of plagiarism. However, in my defense, I had no idea about that concept back then. Secondly, I must apologize to my friend Amwell for using his brother’s art for financial gains since my next business involved selling copied work. Sometimes when Amwell brought his brother’s art at school, which was generally drawings of popular cartoon characters and superheroes, I traced over his drawings then sold the duplicates to my schoolmates for 25 cents. Therefore, Amwell if you ever read this, forgive me for my ignorance. Since my conscience is now clear, I can now elaborate on the other legal businesses I later ran.

As time went on, the symptoms of the entrepreneurial bug were still evident. When I attended secondary school, I joined the Junior Achievers programme. I was the president of my company which was called “Noix de Coco Ltd”. The company was made up of students from St Andrew’s Anglican Secondary School, Grenville Secondary School, and St Joseph Convent Grenville. Our company made and sold local coconut products to the general public. The little company gave me a true sense of what entrepreneurship was all about since I experienced all of the facets of running a business such as marketing, production, book keeping, management, etc. firsthand.

Related Article- Do this in 2017 to Grow

Admittedly, there was a period when I believe the drive to enter business went away for a while, but fortunately, I got it back in my last year of university while living in Mexico. Consequently, to further assist me in my entrepreneurial journey, I am currently pursuing a Master of Digital Media degree at Ryerson University. My Major Research Project is all about storytelling and getting stories to spread from a business perspective. I want to help businesses tell their stories because I think it’s one of the most underrated skills in entrepreneurship. I am currently storytelling for small clients and the #IamGrenadian project, and so far, the result has been great. I aim to document and blog my progress as I become a master storytelling entrepreneur, and I am glad to have you along for the journey.

Grenadian Entrepreneur: Bridget Burke and her Business UNIK

Sep 24,2014 / By kimron / No Comment

Today that Real Kimron Corion features, UNIK Fashion in Grenada. UNIK is a Shoe Store operating at Grenville Grenada. The Entrepreneur behind UNIK is Mrs. Bridget Burke who has been in Entrepreneurship for a number of years and has experienced a number of successes as an Entrepreneur. The business previously sold clothing; however management revamped the business to selling predominantly Shoes.

While the business has only been operating under that new model for over a one year; there is hope that the new product lines will position itself in the market.

The shoes that are offered are of high quality and a few the brands are as follows:

· LA Republic
· Fioni
· Golden Girl
· Smart Fit Nature Breeze
· Prediction Promise
· Dr. Scholl’s
· Bamboo
· Bongo

The business caters mainly to these sizes 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. The Entrepreneur, Mrs. Burke is looking to grow her business to be a dominant force at Grenville, St. Andrew, Grenada.

Mrs. Burke believes that in order to help alleviate some of the economic problems being faced today, there need to be a greater emphasis placed on Entrepreneurship. Her advice for young people especially young and aspiring entrepreneurs is to Pursue their dreams and don’t let fear keep them back.

Individuals can visit UNIK store on Jubilee Street Grenville St Andrew to check out their different array of products.

Caribbean Entrepreneur Barnadette “Camille” Warren: St Vincent and the Grenadines

Aug 27,2014 / By kimron / No Comment

Today i present to you Vincentian Entrepreneur, Camille Warren, we had a very interesting chat and i wish to present some of the things we spoke about. I do hope this will inspire aspiring entrepreneurs and actual entrepreneurs.

Bernadette “Camille” Warren is an entrepreneur from the Village of Belair in St Vincent. She is the wife of Taireen Warren, who is also her business partner. Taireen loves business, He has a degree in Business Administration , has acquired knowledge in management, communication and, organizational skills that is quite essential to starting or having a successful business. Camille is creative, charismatic with keen business insights from her previous work experiences. Their passion for business and helping people gave birth to their business Brio Che.

1. Tell me about your business, what is it about?

Brio Che is an eco-friendly brand/business offering an array of natural, handmade, health and beauty coconut products. Brio Che means, “A life of fun and vitality.” We currently offer; Organic Virgin & Pure Coconut oil, Organic Coconut Soaps, Eco Friendly Scented Candles in Coconut Shell, Exfoliating Body Scrubs, and Moisturizing Lip Balms all made from coconut goodness. It is also an agricultural, environmental and health initiative to encourage persons to utilize the natural resources here on our island.

2. What ignited the spark in you to start a new business venture? How did the idea for your business come about?

The spark was the moment I was at my grandmother’s house and she was busy processing coconut to make coconut oil. It was something she has been doing for over 50 years and seems to enjoy. I got in on the fun as she passed on her knowledge and expertise to me. My fascination has always been to use the coconut milk to make Gelato (Ice Cream) but this was a bigger idea that required much more financing. It wasn’t long before we decided to start Brio Che with a coconut line to make our own natural products as it was also getting hard to keep up with purchasing healthier alternatives.

3. How many hours do you work on your business a day on average?

Oh wow no sleep, just kidding. 7am-9pm or 9am-11pm, so like 14hours a day, sometimes 18hrs. Hubby has a fulltime job so he has work at work and work when he gets home, exactly what he says all the time. We do believe working hard and smart is one of the main ingredients to success so it is necessary. I will get up and get dressed in my work overall/attire as if I was going to work, so that I stay focus and discipline.

4. What motivates you?

I draw motivation from every positive thing that surrounds me. God, nature, love, great people, good books, my desire to accomplish phenomenal things in life amidst the challenges and making people happy. It brings such satisfaction to see the smile on someone’s face after I’ve just helped them in some way.

5. What is your greatest fear, and how do you manage fear?

I despise dealing with overly negative or difficult people. Hubby seems to have a knack for that though so I am learning a lot from him. I can’t think of anything else that I am fearful of right now. I do get nervous about things I don’t necessarily have control over, but at the same time I can manage that by proper planning or improving. I now understand things don’t always go the way you anticipate even with the best plans, so being able to move forward is important.

6. How do you define success?

Success to me is about being happy with where you are at in life, having accomplished specific or personal goals and making your dreams a reality. I don’t believe I am successful just yet, but I will be in a few years.

7. Who has been your greatest inspiration?

Everyone who supports our journey inspires us to persevere. Happy customers, other business people or organizations that offer their guidance, friends and family that genuinely wants us to succeed inspires us because they believe we can do great things and this gives us the confidence and motivation to always do our best.

8. What book has inspired you the most? (OR what is your favourite book?)

My favourite book, Wow, i have a ton of favorites, smiling… especially in audio format like Anthony Robbins, he is my source for motivation. However someone lent me a copy of David Novak- “Taking people with you,” which I thoroughly enjoyed. I really need to get my own copy. His book is a unique insight on personal development, and how to bring out the best in others. It is one of the best, most practical hands-on books on leadership I’ve ever read. My plan is to apply the principles I’ve learnt, to be a charismatic and successful Entrepreneur, and assist other persons along my journey… it really is the only way to make big things happen.

9. What is your favourite aspect of being an entrepreneur?

What I love about being an entrepreneur is the ability to make the decisions. Though hubby is the decisive one, having my hubby as my business partner, with his great set of skills and keen business perspective is awesome. The flexibility to work from anywhere is my greatest love and knowing the success of our business is up to us. I also think it is quite fulfilling creating an opportunity for ourselves that may someday create opportunities for others.

10. Do you think that entrepreneurship is important to your local economy and why?

Yes, I think entrepreneurship is good for the growth of our local economy and is very important. One of our goals was to utilize our resources on our island to reduce imports, while inspiring persons to support more locally made products, so more money stays here to develop our communities. It is high time we as a small island start exporting too. This will intensify competition, create employment, increase productivity, and offer customers value. So entrepreneurship really does benefit everyone along the way.

11. Where do you see yourself and your business 10 years from now?

I see myself as a very successful entrepreneur by then, with our very own Brio Che, Health Store and Gelato Cafe not only in St.Vincent but several places around the world. I see myself traveling around the world. I will also like to have an establishment that assists other entrepreneurs. I know how hard it can be to have great ideas and not being able to make them a reality.

12. What three pieces of advice would you give to students who want to become entrepreneurs? An entrepreneur is one who takes initiative, creates his or her own opportunities and accepts some risks…so be prepared to take risks. Secondly being discipline is important I think the hardest part is the discipline it takes to get everything together. Finally, stay motivated and focus on your goals, you have to have a clear vision of where you going or what you want to achieve. Finally as long as you are passionate about your business and committed to delivering your best, people will notice. The rest will follow.