Entrepreneurial impulses can be stirred to life by the most unexpected influences. In Donna Young’s case, it was culture shock.
Young grew up on the sparsely populated Andros Island in the Bahamas with 10 siblings and had long pursued a professional career.
Young’s entrepreneurial side surfaced not long after she arrived in the United States. She began sending her sister, Patrice Joseph, women’s hats and custom jewelry to resell at a profit in Nassau, where prices are much higher.
Then, Joseph moved to the island of Abaco and discovered that upscale clothing was so hard to find there that many residents flew to Nassau or even Florida to stock up.
It was an unexploited niche, and the two women moved in. Each invested $10,000 to start a 600-square-foot women’s clothing boutique in Abaco’s main town of Marsh Harbor last September.
It is a tiny business, but it has changed Young’s life. “I feel so free now,” she said.
She said she had long wanted to take the plunge into small business but did not because “I was a single mom for several years and couldn’t take the risk.”
But when she moved to the United States, she said, creating a start-up filled a void and became “a passion for me.”
Photo by The New York Times.