Latest update April 24th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jun 06, 2021 News, Special Person
Changing the scope of pet care on the Essequibo Coast…
By Romario Blair
Kaieteur News – One may argue that the best aspect of being human is the ability to choose. It is therefore imperative that we choose for ourselves the path we wish to walk.
At times, however, that path may be blocked with an unforeseen obstacle; an obstacle that stands between us and what we’re destined to become. When such a dilemma presents its self, we can either choose to remain on the blocked path and ‘hope’ for a miracle, or we can set out a new path altogether.
For Shevoone Bryne, setting out on a new path led to a metamorphosis in which she was transformed from a prospective employee to an entrepreneur. The 25-year-old, who because of her love for animals, today owns the only pet shop on the Essequibo Coast.
What appeared to have been a faint reality over a year ago is today a thriving new business, which has been serving the people of Region Two with excellence for the past eight months. On September 25, 2020, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Bryne opened the doors of ‘Amara’s Animal Supplies’ to the public. Her business is located in Anna Regina and offers a wide range of goods and services.
As mentioned earlier, becoming her own boss was never the path she had set out to achieve, nevertheless, it is one that she has grown to love.
LOVE FOR ANIMALS
Bryne is one of three children born to James and Michele Bryne.
During an exclusive interview with Kaieteur News, she explained that she became especially fond of her father because of the time he would put into tending to his cattle. It was during this time, she said, that her love for animals was cultivated. “I grew up loving animals because I can always remember my father having a lot of cows and whenever he attended to them, I would be there sometimes, and I always loved being there, milking the cows. I have never seen an animal that I hated, once you have deep love for something, your interest in it deepens and you eventually pursue it,” she related.
During her time at the Anna Regina Multilateral School, Bryne chose the Agriculture stream. After graduating high school in 2013, she studied Supervisory Management at the Institute of Distant and Continuing Education [IDCE]. In 2015, she was enrolled at the University of Guyana (UG) to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in Animal Science.
After graduating from UG in 2019, Bryne said that she was optimistic that she would be gainfully employed soon after. Sadly though, this was not the case as most businesses and agencies were either filled or required years of working experience. For the first time, she said, it appeared as though a real obstacle had presented itself, one which stood between her and what she loved. Though she was initially devastated, Bryne eventually mustered up the needed courage and brainstormed a new idea to get around her problem.
SETTING UP A NEW PATH
As a young entrepreneur, Bryne had little knowledge of how to set up a new business.
This, nevertheless, did not hinder her from taking a shot at it. As expected, there were some challenges. She recalled that “finding resources to start up the business was one problem but when I did my degree programme, I gained some knowledge on how to set up a business plan. So, I got my business plan ready and I was able to source some of the necessary resources needed for establishment.”
Any great entrepreneur is one who is willing to take risks. In Bryne’s case that risk was establishing a new business amidst a pandemic. “In 2020 the COVID pandemic started in March. But I had the business idea for a period of time. So because of the pandemic, I was thinking about opening after the pandemic. But a friend encouragingly said that ‘there’s no need to wait after the pandemic, open the business.’ So I heeded that advice and here we are today,” said a smiling Bryne.
PET CARE DELIVERY
A new business can have certain positive impacts on a community.
With Amara’s Animal Supplies, the aim is to change the ideology of pet care delivery within the Pomeroon/Supenaam Region. According to Bryne, “A dog isn’t just a dog, nor is a cat just a cat. That animal has feelings like any other human and it deserves to be loved and cared for.” She added, “if people see how pets should be treated, they would learn to appreciate them more. I believe that once I promote pet care and have the necessary services, persons would make changes… There are a lot of persons who love animals but their lack of knowledge on how to properly care for the animal is a problem and this is what we have set out to change.”
When asked if her work has yielded much result, Bryne replied, “a few persons who never thought they could brush their animal’s teeth have approached me on advice on how to get it done. More persons are also coming forward to get their animals vaccinated.
Persons are even keeping the animal’s clinic card up-to-date which is something that was lacking over a year ago…that shows me that my work has not been in vain.”
The clinic’s Veterinarian, Randy Domar, offers some crucial veterinary services which include: deworming, pet consultation, neutering and spraying, minor surgeries, disease diagnosis and treatment. The clinic also offers pet care products and dental care for pets.
Bryne said that she has also organised a Christmas event during which persons can bring their pets and take photos with Santa Claus. At this event pets are given free goodies.
The veterinary clinic also offers outreaches to communities as far as Bethany, which is located on the southern end of the Essequibo Coast. Bryne said that farmers also benefit from some of the services. She said, “we lend support to farmers, we give them advice on how to treat their animals and shortly we will be doing farming consultancy in the field, where we will advise farmers on how to build the pens, how to situate them and so on.”
FUTURE GOALS
According to Bryne, she hopes to further improve pet care in the future with the introduction of additional services. “As part of my short-term goal, I’m working on a grooming parlour; the full grooming is what I hope to accomplish in the next three months. We’re opening home services on Saturdays, so if you can’t come to us, we can come to you. My overall goal is to better our services so we can continue to change the scope of how persons treat animals.”
After eight months of hard work, Bryne has concluded that the joy derived from helping others see animals through her eyes, has been immeasurable. “I’ve gained so much knowledge, I’ve become a stronger person, more outspoken and improved. It’s an unexplainable feeling… If you know this animal has been coming to this clinic and you know that you played a role in improving this animal’s wellbeing, then there’s that feeling of immense satisfaction.”
When asked what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur, Bryne said, “First understand that God exists and, secondly, if you don’t believe in yourself, who will? Being a successful entrepreneur means that you’ve learned to listen to your intuition and rely on your wisdom when making decisions. Thirdly, perseverance; don’t give up when the road gets rocky. If you don’t love what you do, don’t do it. I truly believe it’s as simple as that, and lastly you need a great team who is gritty as you.”
For taking a chance when the going was tough in order to provide pet care services to the entire Essequibo Coast, today we at Kaieteur News bestow Bryne with our title of ‘Special Person’ of the week.
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