BUILDING A BUSINESS AROUND LIFE SKILLS —A Urpreneur Story
“I ended up in entrepreneurship because the job market was saturated and you have to find ways to utilise your skills. It was also flexible for me as a mother of two boys. I believe that the proposal that I have for the Accelerator programme is something missing nationally and it is really time for something like this to be mainstream. One of the reasons I think it’s important is because I graduated from UWI in 2008 and entered the teaching service shortly afterwards. When I got into teaching I realised that I did not have the coping skills to deal with issues in the school. In 2015, I did the Teaching of Life Skills and had I done that before going into teaching, I would’ve been better equipped to deal with employment. Even though the schools have Health & Family Life Education (HFLE) instruction, it has become another mundane subject. The format she is devising will be more relatable and fun through the inclusion of games and technology,” said Rampersad- Maraj. The UrpreneurPlus Accelerator Programme is funded by the Unit Trust Corporation (UTC) of Trinidad & Tobago in partnership with UWI Ventures.
Parbatee to entrepreneurship; she grew up in a household with a mother who was very creative and found numerous inventive ways to support the family. Rampersad- Maraj’s mother, however, was not always able to see her projects completed. For this reason, Rampersad-Maraj has taken up the mantle where her mother left off, and her mother has become the inspiration behind her own entrepreneurial endeavours. These endeavours have led Rampersad-Maraj from the teaching service into full-time entrepreneurship. As a participant in the UrpreneurPlus Accelerator Programme, Rampersad-Maraj is creating a life skills programme for youth that will include an interactive textbook with accompanying website, educational tablet and web application, all centred around life skills. Rampersad-Maraj first developed the idea after taking the Teaching of Life Skills with Literacy course at The UWI, Open Campus. The course was eye-opening for Rampersad-Maraj who currently works in advertising, marketing and sales. Rampersad-Maraj is no stranger
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