THE HOPEFUL GARDENER — A Urpreneur Story
participating in the programme also helped with creating a concise business presentation for potential investors. In 2022, Hughes-Pantin received a National Youth Award as a Youthful Resilience champion. This award is presented to young people who have faced exceptional challenges yet continue to make important contributions to society. Hughes-Pantin has herself experienced accident-induced trauma while continuing her studies and balancing her work and entrepreneurship. Hughes-Pantin, who began her academic career in medicine, has worked in marketing, agri-business and even freelanced as a makeup artist, but this most recent endeavour is very close to her heart. “I believe in social entrepreneurship and giving back to my community and there are a lot of people with disabilities in society who are not able to access certain services. I want to be able to impact people’s wellness with plants and gardening skills and decrease the stigma around therapy by using something from the environment that they’re familiar with,” said Hughes-Pantin.
In 2020, during the lockdown period of the COVID-19 pandemic, Akilah Hughes-Pantin began gardening as a hobby. Hughes- Pantin shared her gardening journey through social media, even entering and winning some amateur competitions. This hobby soon became the basis for her business—a social enterprise focused on gardening, wellness, and horticultural therapy. The business has two main parts: a retail business, and a community outreach healing garden supported through the retail profits. Although Hughes-Pantin’s business is operational, she decided to participate in the UrpreneurPlus Accelerator Programme to further her study and practice of entrepreneurship. As a recent graduate of The UWI, St. Augustine, with an MA in Creative Design & Entrepreneurship, she was able to make a profit selling wellness products which she in turn invested into the social outreach aspect of her business. However, participating in the programme has helped Hughes-Pantin with logistics, access to resources, refining the costing, pricing, market research and developing a business-model canvas. She indicated that
The UrpreneurPlus Accelerator Programme is funded by the Unit Trust Corporation (UTC) of Trinidad & Tobago in partnership with UWI Ventures.
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