The childhood dream of a Parika, East Bank Essequibo (EBE) young woman became a reality on Saturday as she officially declared open the first of her “many stores to come” in her home village.

Sonia Deonauth, 30, was all smiles as she stood in front of her newly-constructed store, “Zarah’s”, at Lot 68 Parika, in the company of her family, friends, pastor and congregation members.

In her brief remarks, the young woman said that the planning stage to the actual construction of the building took almost one year. The store was named after her first-born, who will be six later this year.

The businesswoman related that from a very young age, she wanted to become her own boss. As such, she started saving all the money she got on her birthdays and at Christmas so that she could put it towards achieving her dream.

Her aim is to develop her own brand into a household name. She explained that her passion is to provide a unique shopping experience for customers by offering products in the line of fashion, home furnishings, lifestyle products and much more.

“This is the first of many stores to come. My idea is to provide a unique one-stop shopping experience to persons within the community and other regions,” she said.

The businesswoman explained that though there were several challenges in sourcing the right type of materials for the project such as lighting and fixtures, etc, the finished project was well worth it.

The young entrepreneur, with the help of her contractor, designed the building in which Zarah’s is housed.

The proud young lady also related that in spite of the terrible state of the economy at the moment, she is determined to succeed and would continue to look at ways in which she could capitalise on business opportunities in Guyana.

She expressed thanks to her parents, Lorna and Roy Boodhoo, for their relentless support in getting the project completed.

Among those gathered were members of the business community and other residents.

The young woman’s pastor, Reverend Motie Singh, blessed the opening ceremony and provided a brief word of exhortation.

Several well-wishers spoke of the young woman’s determination, drive, enthusiasm and hard work in making her dreams a reality.

She used the opportunity to encourage young persons in the community to dream big and to never give up when certain challenges arise and, most of all, to pray and trust God to provide the right guidance in order to make good decisions.