On September 13, a workshop was organized Digicel Entrepreneur of the Year team invited past women finalists to join a one-off workshop with two key aims : boosting their enterprises through shared experience and refreshing and developing their networking skills.

The workshop was a powerhouse of female business expertise. Joining Danielle St Lôt were two other female entrepreneurs – both past Digicel Entrepreneur of the Year finalists.

Marie Effoisie Dorcéus of was a co-founder of the food cooperative, AFASDAH, which provided a template for empowering resource-poor rural women by providing sustainable employment to help them support themselves and their families. She was a Digicel Entrepreneur of the Year finalist in 2017 – and she is particularly interesting on the nuts and bolts of how to reinforce the autonomy of women and their communities. Two other women entrepreneurs, also finalists of Digicel Entrepreneur of the Year was alongside Danielle Saint Lôt.

Magalie Noelle Dresse of Caribbean Craft was a finalist in 2010. Her aim too was to provide much needed artisanal employment for a local workforce.Magalietalked about strategies that help local enterprises achieve a foothold on the international ladder, how to develop and preserve productive business partnerships, and how to ensure that such collaboration not alone survives but thrives amid the rigours of growth.

"Our aim is to make this an invaluable exercise in collective intelligence-gathering for women in business”, says Brona Cusack, Director of the Digicel Entrepreneur of the Year awards.

"It will set out to identify the type of real-life challenges faced most often by entrepreneurs on the cusp of growth. It will give participants an opportunity to describe and analyse their own experiences in a supportive business environment. And it will add the type of hard-won expertise and insight that makes all the difference to achieving success in the marketplace."

HL/ HaitiLibre