Essequibo complex to be opened by mid year
The Neal and Massy Group of Companies is currently evaluating the potential for a significant expansion of the range of services being offered in Guyana according to the company’s Chief Executive Officer Deo Persaud.
Speaking exclusively to Stabroek Business earlier this week Persaud said that the Trinidad and Tobago based conglomerate is contemplating “two new major investments” in Guyana. Persaud declined to disclose the nature of the investments but told Stabroek Business that apart from the Group’s internal evaluation, the advent of the investments necessitates prior consultations with the Government of Guyana which discussions, he said, are expected to begin shortly. “We hope that the evaluation phase will be completed by the end of this year but we are yet to engage the government about our plans,” Persaud said.
Meanwhile, the CEO told Stabroek Business that the company is in the process of completing its new complex at Land of Plenty on the Essequibo Coast which will accommodate the various companies – including Ainlim, Docol, Moneygram and New Security Solutions – that form part of the group. Persaud said that the new facility which will be opened in June this year will see Neal and Massy provide a more effective service to Essequibo in various areas including the supply of fertilizer and food products.
“For us, improving our service in the area of supplying fertilizer and other agriculture-based products is a big deal, particularly given the fact that the local economy is agriculture-based and the current challenges associated with food production,” Persaud added.
The company has also recently commissioned a similar new facility in Berbice.
Persaud told Stabroek Business that Neal and Massy continued to anticipate the expansion of its operations in Guyana despite some of the challenges associated with working in “a difficult environment.”
“One big problem which Neal and Massy faces in Guyana is a human resource problem. Our operations, like those of other businesses in Guyana, are being affected by the fact that there is no great pool of skills out there from which we can draw.” He said that the company has developed a Neal and Massy Training Model that is implemented by company officials in both Georgetown and Port-of-Spain and external specialists and which also depends on accessing graduates from the University of Guyana and the Government Technical Institute. “Typically we get eighty to a hundred university graduates applying to us annually,” Persaud said.
Persaud said that while the company’s training programmes represent a significant investment there is no obligation on the part of the trainees. “At the end of our training programme we recruit the best graduates. However, as part of our policy, we consider our training as giving something to the rest of corporate Guyana,” Persaud added.
