Former Taxi Driver Opens Own College, Gives Scholarships to Poor People

• Kerine Davis is the founder of Ocho Rios College, a school she started with 40 students
• Before establishing the college, she operated a taxi business and later opened an internet café - T&G Employment Agency and Document Centre
• Ocho Rios College now offers a wide range of courses, including hospitality, business, and medicine

Despite being raised in a ''ghetto,'' Kerine Davis has risen to become the founder of a college providing ad imparting training and knowledge to its students.

Her school, Ocho Rios College, has a reputation for giving out millions of dollars worth of scholarships to underprivileged people.

The majority of the scholarship recipients are from her native country Jamaica.

Giving out scholarships

During their last graduation of this year, Davis gave away 40 scholarships to the 40 graduands.

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''I told them to find somebody in their community and give the scholarships to,'' she told The Beacon.

Davis, a former school dropout herself, believes that was her way of giving back and reaching out to deprived people.''

She was raised by a disciplinarian dad, who ensured that she and her three other siblings kept in line but had to drop out of school when she got pregnant in Grade 10.

Her education was temporarily truncated after childbirth as her parents did not have money to send her back to school.

She explained that her parents weren’t rich though they tried their best as long as they were responsible for us.

''Once I got pregnant, I had to start taking on life by myself,'' she said.

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Davis was compelled to go job hunting to fend for herself and her newborn baby and was lucky to land a job in a restaurant.

Her dedication and commendable customer service earned her a publication in the Jamaican newspaper, which became the turning point.

Davis soon landed a job at Sandcastles Resort in Ocho Rios. She used her saving to ventured into the transport industry by purchasing a Toyota Caldina motorcar to start a taxi business.

Davis eventually went back to school, graduating with certificates in nursing and business administration.

As a business-oriented woman, she added another venture to her taxi business, an internet café - T&G Employment Agency and Document Centre.

Davis realised that many people who patronised her service at her internet café lacked basic skills and would assist them.

Through helping people, she decided to start a college. ''I started [the college] from helping people who came to the internet café,'' she told The Beacon.

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Davis started Ocho Rios College with 40 students, and now her college offers a wide range of courses, including hospitality, business, and medicine.

Gh Man Behind the Snack Brand Sparkxx Foods & Beverages

In another success story, Derrick Yiiyi Annoh, a Ghanaian entrepreneur and business owner, is the brain behind the popular snack brand, Sparkxx Foods & Beverages, a company that produces flavoured packaged chips.

Annoh's quest to leave a legacy and memorial in the sands of time stoked his passion to start his business from his mother's kitchen with a team of trusted friends.

Though he had mouthwatering offers after graduating with a degree in Psychology from the University of Ghana, he turned down the offers to start small in 2017, he said. And gradually made his way up to success.

Source: Briefly News