Up to this time, these, it would seem are among the most pleasing episodes in Keyon Duke’s young life. On Friday January 26th, he launched ‘Pro Wash Laundry’ his first formal business enterprise, at The Courtyard Mall, situated at 66-67 Robb Street, Lacytown, where a Food Court, A Bar, a Barber Shop, a handful of Boutiques, a Bookstore, a Hair ‘n Nails, a Costume Jewelry establishment already do brisk business. What makes Keyon a standout young businessman is that, his progress has unfolded in incremental steps, the origins of his accomplishment located in his ‘working’ the family farm at Pomeroon in his childhood and as he ‘grew into’ business, ‘graduating’ to moving both ‘dry nuts’ and coconut water to assorted markets on the coast.
Amidst all this, the now fast-rising businessman told the Stabroek Business, he read for a BSc. in Business Management at the University of Guyana. Last Friday evening, Keyon was gushing with pride, ‘milking’ the praises of relatives, friends and members of his staff during the formal opening of Laundry inside the Courtyard Mall on Robb street, opposite the Stabroek News. The formal launch had come some weeks after a renovation and refurbishing ‘crew’ had ‘moved in’ to make the space ready for the new service and after a diligent group of young, seemingly energetic women had begun to provide the service. On the whole, the event helped to underscore what, over time, has been a steady drift by young Guyanese into entrepreneurial pursuits that rise above what one might call ‘basic street hustles’. It is an inclination that challenges government to pour more of the country’s oil wealth into providing generous support for what could be the emergence of successive ‘layers’ of young Guyanese businessmen and women in the period immediately ahead.
That Keyon appears altogether ‘un-phased’ by what was unfolding before him last Friday evening was, he hinted, a function of the fact that another piece of the entrepreneurial jigsaw that he had set out to create as a boy was fitting itself into place. The new venture, he unmistakably hinted, was a stepping stone to more exalted ambitions. Farming had been at the core of his upbringing. As he grew older, he began to develop a sense of entrepreneurship that caused him to see crops in the ground from a different perspective. Over time he had, as well, created something of ‘a name’ for moving both coconut water an ‘dried nuts’ to coastal markets. It was, Keyon said, his understanding of the importance of creating a nexus between ‘looking to the land’ and fashioning that pursuit into the creation of an entrepreneurial outlook that took him to the University of Guyana where, in 2022, he was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management.
Seemingly mindful not to ‘get ahead of himself’ in terms of further ‘excursions into entrepreneurship’ Keyon appears more concerned with consolidating his current venture whilst contemplating the country’s unfolding entrepreneurial landscape and where what derives from his assessment might take him next.
