UAE Entrepreneur Donna Benton helps to inspire young women to chase their dreams

June 18, 2013 - Sharjah, UAE: Aspiring young business leaders at the Victoria International School of Sharjah (VISS) have learnt what it takes to be a success from UAE-based entrepreneur Donna Benton.

Mrs Benton, the founder and CEO of the successful Entertainer books, met with around 150 VISS senior school students and hosted a dedicated workshop for 20 young women who have dreams of one day running their own business.

The young women were inspired by Donna's story, which has seen her come from humble beginnings when she first arrived in Dubai over a decade ago to masterminding a multi-million dollar international company.

"I was more than happy to spend the morning speaking with the students and delivering the 'girls only' workshop where I could share my experiences on a much more personal level," said Donna, who comes from Melbourne, Victoria's capital city.

"I wanted to get across that with hard work and determination they can do anything. I started my business in the UAE 12 years ago with only a few thousand dollars to my name and a good business idea. The Entertainer is now a Dubai-based international multi-million dollar company publishing 27 books across 16 countries.

"Most importantly, I told them to believe in themselves, follow their hearts and their dreams can come true."

Mrs Benton's motivational speech emphasized the importance of developing a strong work ethic from a young age, accrediting much of her own success to learning how to set goals and working diligently to achieve them from the age of 13.

VISS invited Donna to speak to Grade 10-13 students to educate and inspire the students about business, whilst also asking her to share some life lessons and learning experiences that will help them on their journey to becoming entrepreneurs. The sessions were part of the school's 'Young Business Minds' class, which aims to provide the students with practical, real life experience of setting up and running their own business.

"Donna has been a great encouragement to our students and shown them the value of hard work," said Principal Dr Roderick Crouch.

"At VISS, we believe strongly in preparing our students fully for the world that lies ahead of them.  This means not just a rigorous academic education, but, as importantly, the opportunity to be creative and innovative, and develop quality life skills." 

Mrs Benton passed on her top six tips she believes the students need to consider when starting a successful business: 

1. Is it a good idea and is it feasible: a great idea = profitability

2. Understand your cash flow and be good with figures

3. Have passion

4. Have ambition

5. Develop a strong work ethic

6. Be a good leader / good manager - you have to be a people's person

The 'Young Business Minds' class has seen the students benefit from a range of activities and projects recently, which also included the youngsters embarking on a Business Studies trip to Los Angeles and San Francisco earlier this year.

Sajid Hussain, Head of Business and Enterprise at the school, said Mrs Benton was ideal to help continue to build the student's knowledge and overall understanding of running a business.

"I have known Donna for a number of years now and she is an impressive leader who has raised the bar when it comes to women in business," Mr. Hussain said.

"She has successfully set up a sustainable business model and continues to inspire other women to do the same.

"Donna was the perfect role model our female students needed. She has the key traits as a leader and CEO and who never thought 'it wouldn't work'. Our students were inspired by her story and they now know what to do and that they need to work very hard to achieve their goals."

Business Studies is an important part of the curriculum at VISS as a practical subject, employing an analytical, evaluative and investigative approach that gives students a more in-depth look into how businesses work.

"Donna's workshop must have been one of the most magical moments I've had this year," said Maryam Ali from Grade 12. "She was clever, witty, inspiring and down-to-earth. She was a role model for all of the girls."

Sahar Kazemeini from Grade 10 added: "I thoroughly enjoyed Donna's workshop. It taught me a lot about business in a short space of time. We were very lucky to have an experienced entrepreneur give us first-hand experience."

© Press Release 2013