Danielle Hodge is an engaging young woman with a passion for the land of her mother’s birth and, having herself ‘discovered’ Guyana, is immersed in an entrepreneurial pursuit which she now treats as though it were a sacred mission. Danielle was born in the United States, resides in Orlando, Florida, and during her occasional visits here to reconnect with family members on the Essequibo Coast gradually grew to ‘discover’ Guyana.
In her early thirties she had long begun to work in marketing, event planning and product promotion but, she says, the idea of “doing something” in Guyana had become an obsession. Something ‘rang a bell’ when she learnt of Guyana’s first ever Coconut Festival that was scheduled for October 28-30, 2016. There, she says, was where her idea of making a mark here became a focus.
Essequibo had introduced her to some of the country’s finest coconut groves and to the mostly female-run small business enterprises that were producing coconut oil. She had, as well, secured insights into to global demand for coconut products, not least the linkage between coconut oil and the cosmetics in metropolitan countries.
