Young Entrepreneurs Interview Series - Part Deux

I mentioned earlier that I went to the YEA expo last semester and met some of the young entrepreneurs.
The lovely ladies that own and operate the nascent pastry and beverage manufacturing company, Coffee Connoisseurs, have obliged me by allowing me to interview them. So, we cozied up one Sunday afternoon on one of the benches in the lovely breezeway of the Mona School of Business and proceeded with our honest and open conversation - one of a few which gave me a real insight into the daily struggles and triumphs of young entrepreneurs in Jamaica.

Dian Campbell and Sharon Thompson are both inspired, inspiring visionaries who got an idea and leaped at it. As anticipated, their journey to success is still a rough one (complete with physical and financial setbacks and lack of support from the government, to name a few)- but they are determined to "...do it the right way".

I've put together a snippet of what they had to say...

The Crazy Ones...and a Documentary

I'm going to start this thing off by saying that I still haven't found my much needed blogging 'voice', albeit having written a few entries here and there over the years. So, we meet awkwardly, again.

Speaking of being at a loss for words... I completely forgot to mention in the inaugural entry, the fact that I had been working on doing a documentary on young people and entrepreneurship in Jamaica for my final research project. I just wanted to highlight and celebrate those who have chosen to take 'that other road' I spoke about earlier. Those "crazy ones" (word to Steve Jobs) who give a big fat middle finger to the status quo and make something happen for themselves.

I decided to completely emerse myself into the world of entrepreneurism in an effort to gain as much knowledge as I can about it, while hoping that somehow some of that 'special stuff' that these courageous souls possess would rub off on me. Honestly, I am more interested in the latter than anything else *tee hee*.

This production of this documentary, that happens to be running concurrently with my entrepreneurial skills course, is a way for me to get a sneak peak into what it takes to do that stuff and to get the chance to get my Michael Moore on and pick at a couple of these brains.

There is so much more to the entrepreneur-oriented (a legitimate phrase in my world) mind than I ever expected there to be. What I thought before was just sheer luck and the right amount of money and influence turned out to be (in most cases) a wicked cocktail of qualities that one would have to take a sip in order to run a venture successfully, or even have the gall to try.

I'm gonna go ahead and end this with a short, yet piercing speech thing that Steve Jobs gave, in all his Steve Jobs goodness.