Young female entrepreneur humbled by award nomination
27-year-old entrepreneur Natasha Goodridge and Founder of Xpress Delivery Service Inc. and Elysian is one of several women nominated for the 25 Influential Women Leaders Award.
Goodridge feels that the nomination is special, “[I feel] humbled and extremely grateful [about the nomination],” she said.
Goodridge believed her nomination is rooted in the approach that she has taken to life and all its challenges, especially as a successful businesswoman. “…being yourself, working hard, seeing challenges as lessons instead of setbacks, working through the storms of life…and being humble and continuously improving just for yourself will pay off in the most amazing ways,” she detailed.
As a proud product of ‘B’ Field, South Sophia, Goodridge has in many ways, used what others may deem a negative situation as fuel to project her to greater things.
She explained that just being from Sophia has its negative connotations, but using those stereotypes to her advantage, she was able to rise above them. “Growing up in my community, it is quite easy to conform and fall into the trap of ‘I am from Sophia and that’s why I am like this’, but I chose to use that mentally in a positive light,” she noted. “I used what I saw around me as lessons of what not to do, who I didn’t want to become and I chose the path of hard work so that I can become an example that it is not where you are from, it is what you choose, what is within you and the work you put in to unleash it that makes the difference,” she affirmed.
Xpress Delivery Service Inc., which was first launched in April 2020 and located at A105 Duncan Street, Georgetown, is a twofold incorporated entity that was created for the sole purpose of helping entrepreneurs, Goodridge highlighted.
According to the owner, one arm of the entity is a courier service designed to offer “a diverse, affordable, innovative, and efficient courier service built on customer satisfaction”. “The courier service is the solution to getting their items to those customers who cannot make it to come to them (businesses), and offering delivery will increase their reach in Georgetown, East Coast and East Bank Demerara, West Coast and West Bank Demerara and Berbice,” Goodridge said.
The second arm, Goodridge said, is an incubator for businesses to grow and blossom into even greater brands. “We offer display shelves and pickup location options for those businesses that need a convenient and safe space for their customers to view and purchase their products,” she explained.
Goodridge is hoping to continue to use and create new platforms to help young entrepreneurs.
The award nominee revealed to this publication that she will be officially launching another arm of her company in short order. This arm will solely focus on assisting new, small businesses with company registration and incorporation and will also offer free job readiness training programs to make persons more employable in the rigorous job market.
The 25 Influential Women Leaders Award is an award given out to 25 women who have been first nominated by their community members for their exceptional contribution towards their society in varying facets of life.
Co-organizer Lyndell Dazie-Black spoke briefly with this publication and highlighted that the initiative was crafted through the sponsorship of two business entities, Cerulean Inc. and Nico Consultancy in 2019, which is owned by Black and Michelle Nicholas respectively.
The Award ceremony is scheduled to take place on October 23 at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre.
