By SOALILI AKENA JAYLINE – UPNG Journalism Student
SHARLYN BAE (the student in the green top) is a second-year student studying for a Diploma in Business Accounting at the International Training Institute (ITI). But becoming a baker was never part of her plan—and accounting wasn’t even her first choice.
Bae, under the business name Liijay Sweets, started her business as a hobby to earn an income for herself and help support her family.
“I started baking at the age of 19 and my love for baking was inspired by my mother and my older sister who loves baking. Accounting was not in line with what I wanted to take up in the future, but because of my subject choices, I decided to take up accounting. My cake business that I started doing was out of hobby,” she said.
Bae is one of three young entrepreneurs selected for the first batch of the ITI, Women’s Micro Bank (Mama Bank), Unity Mall and Small Medium Enterprises Corporation (SMEC) partnership.
She attended the ILO renowned entrepreneurship training on July 17th this year under SMEC and ITI. The program is run in 110 different countries and aims to help students become job creators in line with the government’s 1 million jobs agenda.
Through the initiative, students are given free space to run their own business while still studying, which is different from the usual On-the-Job Training where students go to companies for training.
Speaking at the MoU signing and formal handover of student space at Unity Mall, Mama Bank CEO Mr. Gunanidhi Das confirmed that Women’s Micro Bank will provide financial literacy training on budgeting, savings and loans without collateral based on cash flow.
“We’ll give you a loan, maybe start with small and then we’ll see your recovery. And at the same time, you are building your savings culture and credit culture so that we can give you bigger ticket size loan in the near future,” he said.
“You are the employee for your organization now. You can add more people within your team so that you can create more jobs within your organization.”
Mr. Das also encouraged the students to keep their personal savings separate from their business to help save up and grow their business.
Unity Mall Executive Chairman Mr. Eric Haiara also encouraged the young entrepreneurs to manage their time, be consistent with the products they are selling, and price their products at reasonable prices.
Through this initiative, Bae now plans to open her own bakery, which is also part of accomplishing her mother and older sister’s dream.
“One of their long-term goals was to open up a bakery, but that never happened, so it has become part of my goal to make that happen,” she said.
She also plans to start her own accounting service to assist people who are unable to do their own accounting.
She encouraged other students who want to go into business to make up their minds and go for it despite distractions.
“There are a lot of things happening, a lot of distractions, but if you would want to start up a business, make up your mind and go for it,” Ms. Bae said.