BAJAN SUN MAGAZINE
NOV 2014
Choose to Live
Your Dreams in
2015
I
By Dr. Anita Davis-DeFoe
n just 92 days, 2208 hours we will be saying “Happy
New Year. We will be ushering in a new year, a time
when we all are open to possibility, we dream again, if
only for one day, January 1st, a day we all see as a time of
new beginnings.
At the recent, Daughters of Divine Destiny Conference,
hosted by the YWCA of the US Virgin Islands in St.
Thomas, the keynote speaker was 18 year teen
entrepreneur, Leanna Archer, CEO of Leanna’s Hair; a
business she started at the age of 9, after begging her
parents to start the business. As entrepreneurs do, see
opportunity and fill gaps, when so many people asked
Leanna how she kept her hair so beautiful, this young lady
of Haitian descent shared that is was her grandmother’s
recipe, a hair treatment that the family had been using for
years. After her parents said no for weeks, Leanna refused
to relent and eventually her parents decided to support her
in growing the business. Opening their eyes to possibility,
eventually her father, a highly successful engineer left his
Manhattan job and started working for his teen daughter.
I had the privilege of interviewing Leanna back in 2005
while hosting a radio show on CaribVoiceRadio.com, and
have watched her grow this business, receive a variety of
accolades and talk about dreaming and doing business
around the globe. What started out as a business with one
product has mushroomed into a line of 14 health and
beauty products, now sold in 80 countries..
There is no better time to start a business than when you
already have a job. There is no better time than now to start
a business as the next 92 days are going to pass whether
you take action, or choose to sit on the sidelines of life.
Amazon.com was born in the basement of a house, Carol’s
Dr. Anita Davis-DeFoe
Author. Thought Leader. Social
Entrepreneur, Organization and
Leadership Development Solutionist
The Chieftaincy Ceremony. Dr. Anita, second from the left, being named the first woman
Chief in Akwa Ibom State Nigeria because of her global human development and humanitarian work with women in the village. She was named Adiaha Unwana Itam 1, (Daughter of
Light In Itam Clan)
Daughter like Leanna’s Hair started with mixing product
ingredients in the kitchen, so what’s stopping you from
giving your dreams, your product or service a try.
he creation of jobs worldwide is sluggish, so the way I see
it, you are taking a bigger risk depending upon your job to
last, than you are taking if you exert the effort to start a
small business. Who knows, that small business could
grow to become a big business. None of this you will ever
know if you do not give your dreams a try.
Entrepreneurs are being viewed in a new light these days,
and interest in replicating their spirit is high. No longer
considered geeks, uncontrollable workers, or lunatics,
entrepreneurs are being recognized as igniters of
sustainable growth and new job creation, something that
politicians, governments and bankers can rarely sustain.
This is becoming more evident primarily because as the
global economy continues to rapidly expand, innovation
and agility are reigning supreme, making it crystal clear
that we are in the season of entrepreneurialism; that there is
a dire need for more entrepreneurs, and this time is going
to last for quite a while. Corporations are now looking for
employees who can bring the entrepreneurial spirit into the
workplace serving to rekindle innovation and inventive
thinking in organizational settings. Whether born or made,
entrepreneurs have a knack for thinking differently, and the
courage to give their ideas and passions a try.
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