Twenty-two-year-old Kwe Simmons and Tea-Tephi Pringle, her senior by one year, have something in common — both are passionate about realising their dreams.

They are interning at entrepreneurial accelerator Ignite Bermuda where they are getting practical hands-on experience in setting up and running their own small business.

For Kwe, it’s another step in establishing her own skincare business and for Tea-Tephi, it’s about getting an insight into what it would take to one day own and run a food truck.

Kwe, who started a skincare line called Kwe’s Better Look when she was in Britain, said she was interning “to learn, to gain knowledge and hopefully apply everything that I am learning, and have learnt, to my businesses”.

She works as a supervisor at the Rosedon Hotel and in her spare time makes soaps and cleansers, but her hope is to have a full salon.

“The goal is to be able to come out of employment and sustain myself full-time in my own businesses,” she said.

A student studying business management and economics at the University of the West of England, in Bristol, Tea-Tephi is aiming for a career in reinsurance, but she is also a very keen cook.

“I actually want to start a food truck business. It’s mobile, it’s easy to access and I could find different customers in different locations. That is a goal of mine, something that I want do,” said Tea-Tephi.

She applied for the Ignite internship because she wanted to involve herself in an atmosphere where she felt she could learn from people who had business experience.

“My main plan is to go into reinsurance, but I do want a business on the side. I want something that I can call my own. Something I can do on a Saturday or a Sunday.”

While interning at Ignite, both young entrepreneurs are networking, attending workshops with industry experts on a range of business-related subjects and learning from a mentor.

Each intern is also partnered with a business — Tea-Tephi with Salon Pink and Kwe with Enzuri Beauty.

“I really feel like I learn a lot from them,” added Tea-Tephi. “Through our workshops, we also learn about a variety of concepts, such as customer discovery, value proposition and strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats [Swot] analysis.

“There are a lot of business concepts that we learn about that I feel will be very beneficial.”

Kwe added: “I think that, even aside from the business aspect, they’re building us as individuals, our character, and a lot of the stuff that we’re learning can take you far in life.

“Also, there’s the people that we’re meeting and learning from — it’s an inspiration.”

Asked where they saw themselves in five years, both were confidant that they would be successful.

“I would definitely see myself in the business world and definitely on the route of planning my own business and how I'm going to become successful,” said Tea-Tephi.

Kwe added: “In five years? I see myself established in the business industry in Bermuda. In five years I will definitely be at a comfortable position in my business, for sure, hopefully with employees by then.”

Would anything stop them from succeeding?

“I find myself to be driven,” said Tea-Tephi. “Don’t let anything stop you, just keep going for what you want. As long as you have that mindset, as long as I have that positive attitude, I’m going to go for it.”

Kwe added: “I definitely have a growth mindset. Honestly, to answer the question, I don’t see anything stopping me.

“I’m very ambitious and when it comes to my business, it’s my heart. It's literally my passion. I think about it when I'm awake, when I’m asleep.”