MANCHESTER, Jamaica (JIS) — Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Manpower Maintenance Services, Audrey Hinchcliffe, has offered five tips to women who want to become successful entrepreneurs.

Addressing the second annual ‘Made in Manchester’ expo, staged by business women at Manchester High School in Mandeville on March 5, Hinchcliffe  suggested that women must dream, be courageous, be bold, be equipped and learn to network.

These tips, she said, have helped her team and herself to transform Manpower into an entity that employs more than 1,400 persons and serves some 200 client locations across the island.

Using her personal journey at the helm of Manpower, Hinchcliffe told the audience that she is not advocating that they pursue hare-brained schemes that would drain their resources, leaving them in a desperate financial situation.

Instead, she said she wanted them to explore their dreams and ideas that could take them places and give them opportunities.

“Success in any endeavour requires courage, a positive can-do attitude and stick-to-itiveness – a willingness to try, try and try again even when the odds seem to be stacked against you,” Hinchcliffe said.

Representing food processing, baking, jewellery-making, fashion design, furniture manufacturing and other industries, the group of some 45 young businesswomen were also reminded that their ideas are not always welcomed or assessed by lending agencies.

“As a result, many women are timid to approach these agencies for loans or grant funding to grow their businesses. Women need to access financing to develop their business ideas,” Hinchcliffe emphasised.

She said women should make the bold move of reminding such institutions that they are here to stay, and harness their talents of strength, bravery and resilience, which are great assets to doing business.

Hinchcliffe also encouraged them to equip themselves with training and capacity building and to network, so that they can keep abreast of what is happening and who is making things happen.