Candace’s story: Living her purpose, thriving in business, and becoming a “Superwoman”

Candace Wickham is Founder and CEO of ProCare Therapy & Wellness Centre in Georgetown, Guyana. Candace is passionate about her business’ mission of providing holistic therapy for children with special needs, as well as caring for her own children at home. Here, she shares how our free childcare services supported her to access the Road to Growth and Road to Finance training programmes, and what this meant for her business.

“I was born on the 3 December, the United Nations Day of Persons with Disabilities. So, every day I feel like I’m living my purpose. 

I was awarded a government scholarship to study speech and language therapy and special education in Cuba. Upon returning to Guyana, I was placed at the head of the Speech and Language Therapy Department at Georgetown Public Hospital. I met many families with children with special needs: autism, Down’s syndrome, cerebral palsy, among others.

I realized during my years of working in the private and public health sector that these families needed a wider range of therapeutic interventions than speech and language therapy. That’s why I started my business. I wanted to be financially free, while building a business that could provide a service to support positive changes in families’ lives. 

It’s been very exciting to become an entrepreneur. At the end of the day, I am also the mother of two loving boys, aged eleven and two. I have to balance caring for them while running the business. I’ve made a point of always finding time to help my elder son prepare for his common entrance exam, while ensuring that we all have enough family time together, and are able to go on vacations. 

I kind of feel like a superwoman, because I’m balancing family while pursuing my passion in life and running a successful business. That’s not always easy.

In order to balance it all, I needed a strong team that understands my business’ mission, and has the knowledge, skills and attitude to realise our vision of creating one of the country’s leading therapy centres. It was challenging to find the right people, but we now have speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, physical and massage therapists, counsellors and psychologists, tutors, and an administrative team. We even provide accredited vocational training.

Accessing finance is also a big challenge. Although I had many other commitments, I decided to attend the Road to Growth and Road to Finance programmes offered by the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women in 2023.

Being the person that I am, I like to take challenges by the horns, and make sure that I put goals in place, so that I can implement and achieve my tasks at the end of the day. The programmes helped me to set SMART goals for where I want to go and where I see our ProCare Therapy & Wellness Centre over the next ten years. 

The programmes also supported me to establish new business processes by outsourcing our accounting and marketing functions. I loved the in-person sessions because I got to network with many other like-minded women entrepreneurs – who I’m still in touch with via a supportive WhatsApp group.

The free childcare provided by the programmes made all the difference in allowing me to gain the most important nuggets from the training, confident that my son was in good hands. I can’t express how much gratitude I feel towards the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women for providing such support for women entrepreneurs.   

Because, as we say, when women are in business, they not only make a difference in the lives of their families, but they make a difference in the lives of the community, and the country in general.