Mrs Gillian Hyde (right) General Manager of JN Small Business Loans presents a cheque to Mr. Sly Scott after he finished first in the JNSBL Barber and Beauty Challenge at the Jamaica Pegasus last year.
Sly Scott has received many overseas job offers, from as far away as Singapore since he won the JN Small Business Loans (JNSBL) Barber and Beauty Challenge; however, he has no intention of accepting them. Instead, he plans to stay in Jamaica to set up his own operation, which he will grow to become a barber shop franchise and create employment.
“I have received a lot of calls and offers to work in barber establishments in the United States of America, Canada and England,” he related. “And, I even got an offer from as far away as Singapore.”
However, he was adamant that he did not say yes to any of them, because he wanted to start his own business, to provide jobs for other people; and, offer quality service to his customers in Jamaica.
Mr Scott, who is based in Westmoreland, won the JNSBL Barber and Beauty Challenge competition, held at the Jamaica Pegasus in February of last year, ahead of Alrick Parris and Marlon Phillips. He emerged from the 25 persons who were selected in the voting round via Facebook; and, was one of the top six barbers and top six hairdressers who competed against each other in four challenge rounds.
Since then, Mr Scott’s services have been in demand. His customers increased; he has been offered jobs to manage barber shops; and, he also received several job offers from overseas. However, he turned down these offers; and, did some research about how best to expand his business, locally.
“The offer to manage a shop was tempting,” he admitted. “But, I want to have my own operations. I want to have a full service salon, which will offer: grooming, facial, massage and also sell products for skin care. I have seen the need for those services; and, I am doing additional research, to determine how best I can go about creating that type of business,” he explained.
The idea to become an entrepreneur has always been one of his dreams; however, it was the JNSBL competition which gave him the confidence to start doing his investigation about how best to approach it.
“The competition really helped me to start thinking as a businessman. I have always had a lot of customers; and, as my clients increase, I am motivated to use my skills to operate my own business,” he said while adding that he plans to engage the JNSBL to assist him in starting his own operations
Mr Scott has also had to do impromptu haircuts while travelling throughout Jamaica.
Sly Scott, (left) applies the finishing touches to his model’s hairstyle during last year’s JNSBL Barber and Beauty Challenge held at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel. Mr. Scott finished first in the competition.
“I was in Mandeville once, and someone saw me and said: ‘You won the JN competition? That means you are good at what you do. You must give me a haircut before you leave Mandeville.’ And, I gave him his haircut and he was pleased,” the elated barber disclosed.
He added: “If it were not for the competition I would not have done that, because I would not have had the confidence to do a haircut right then and there.”
Reflecting on the competition, Mrs Gillian Hyde, general manager for JNSBL, said that, “The Barber and Beauty Challenge provided participants, such as Mr Scott, with the exposure and incentive to expand their entrepreneurial abilities.”
She pointed out that JN Small Business Loans was not only about “lending funds,” but also about, “encouraging and supporting business expansion.”
“This is a natural outcome of the workshops we held during the competition; and, we commend Mr Scott; as well as, encourage others to emulate him by exploring their own possibilities,” she stated.
