BECOMING an entrepreneur can be as simple as turning your hobby into a business — a perspective brought to 34 people recently made redundant by the National Commercial Bank (NCB), in a workshop hosted for them by the financial institution.

The workshop, conducted by Kimala Bennett of The Business Lab, was geared towards helping interested participants to start a business, following their redundancy.

“A lot of people will be displaced and will be looking to start a business in Jamaica,” Bennett said. “And they don’t know the steps to take. This is to help them to know what to do and how to go about doing it.”

The 34 people at the workshop were among a group of 132 made redundant by the bank, some of them after more than 20 years.

“It is a part of our human resource framework,” corporate corporations manager Belinda Williams told Career & Education about the workshop. “These persons are considered to be ambassadors of the company and it is a compassionate reach on our part. Even though separation took place out of a necessary action, we want the effort to be seamless.”

In addition to the workshop, those made redundant were offered counselling and provided with exposure to interview techniques and lessons on how to write résumés, among other things.

The well-received workshop encouraged people to think about their passions and strategies in order to determine how these can be translated into money-making ventures. While some ideas may be considered too ordinary, the facilitator explained that adding something to the mix can make the difference in the success of the business.

She used the example of a car wash business, which could provide not only car-cleaning services, but also an entertainment room, complete with television and games, or a bar and grill — whatever was necessary to have persons wait in comfort and style.

“Its not about recreating the wheel, but maybe looking into something that you have seen overseas or somewhere else and applying it here. You have to try to get that edge that the others do not have,” Bennett said.

She also encouraged people to reprogramme themselves as they move into a different area of interest. Bennett noted that the biggest fear among people starting a business was fear — fear of failure, fear of not having enough start-up capital, etc.

“But once you start, things will start falling into place,” she said.

Bennett noted that a number of unregistered businesses in Jamaica were not as a result of people not wanting to follow proper procedures, but because they did not know how. In an effort to educate prospective entrepreneurs, she has put together a manual entitled, Starting a Business in Jamaica: A step by step guide to starting and running a business, which should have already hit the market. It is a manual to which participants at the workhop were introduced.

The manual, edited by veteran journalist and editor at the Jamaica Observer, Desmond Allen, contains valuable information from the planning stage to the opening of a Jamaican business. It also contains information not readily supplied by the companies office, a CD, and all the forms an individual will need to fill out and submit in order to make their business legal.

The workshop, meanwhile, gave hope to many.

“I came here with an open mind,” said Dean Forbes, who now wants to get into the farming industry. “Redundancy can seem inhumane at times, but this sort of creates a better feeling even towards persons who may have harboured ill feelings,” he said.

Tanya Powell echoed his sentiments.

“This (workshop) is actually pretty good. I had started reading a book, 10 steps to entrepreneurship for women, but it is a book from abroad. So this workshop is bringing a local perspective to it. I think it is really fabulous,” she told Career & Education. “It gives you that concise step-by-step process of how to go about starting your business. It allows you to stop and think. It allows you to assess yourself to see if this is really what you want to do.”

Sharon Wint, who is looking towards starting her own business of private tutoring, said the information gained from the workshop was very informative and something she hopes to use going forward.

“I want to do teaching — more like private tutoring — and I find that this is very beneficial,” she said.

Tips for starting a business

* Write a business plan

* Decide on a legal structure for your business (sole trader, partnership, united liability)

* Choose the right name

* Get the business registered

* Trade mark the name/logo

* Get all the tax requirements in place

* Secure all the necessary licences and permits if necessary

* Determine how you are going to finance the business

* Set up your office

* Find a good accountant and set up a good book-keeping system

* Employ staff, if any is required

* Open the business