The Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) has told Stabroek Business that while it continues to engage with stakeholders in the small business sector, financial constraints place limits on its ability to “focus and advocate” on issues specifically relevant to the support and development of the local small business community.
In a written response to questions raised with the chamber by this newspaper, GCCI Secretary Clinton Urling said that the interests of the organisation’s members are paramount because “the majority of the chamber’s funds are raised through its membership. We do not receive external financial support from government and or international donors. This constrains our capacity, both technically and financially, to specifically focus and advocate on issues specifically relevant to the support and development of any one sector.”
The issue of a role for the GCCI in pursuing the interests of small and micro enterprises arose most recently early in January following the displacement of a number of vendors in the wake of the grenade explosion. Then, both the displaced vendors and others who had been given clearance by President Bharrat Jagdeo to return to the area had told this newspaper that they were willing to seek affiliation to the GCCI in order to ensure the regularisation of their respective business enterprises and avoid displacement on account of the irregularity of their operations.
When the question of these mostly vending businesses was put to GCCI President Kamal Ramnauth several weeks ago he responded by drawing attention to the Chamber’s Code of Conduct which requires prospective members to own and manage “legitimate operations” that honour their obligations to the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) and National Insurance Scheme (NIS) and other statutory bodies. At the time, however, Ramnauth said that this did not mean that the chamber was averse to paying an interest in matters affecting the interests of small and itinerant businesses.
Both central government and the Georgetown municipality have, from time to time, expressed concern over the growing number of vendors who ply their trade in various parts of the city. Those concerns have centred around congestion of the roads and walkways, garbage disposal and, most recently, the role that some of these businesses might play in harbouring pockets of criminals. The City Sanitation Department has also raised the health and sanitation considerations associated with food vending on the streets.
The GCCI has held discourses with both City Hall and the vendors themselves on a number of issues including the congestion of city pavements and had voiced its support for the erection of vendors’ arcades in the city. Chamber members, however, have drawn attention to the fact that the growing number of vendors who have set up small establishments on the streets have, in some cases, come to represent a logistical hazard that often impairs legitimate trading.
In his statement, Urling told Stabroek Business that in the past the chamber had extended invitations to the Guyana Small Business Association (GSBA) to become a member “in order to support and augment their advocacy efforts”; though he provided no details of the outcomes of those invitations. Stabroek Business was unable to contact any GSBA official and this newspaper understands that membership of the association includes few if any established businesses.
Meanwhile, in response to questions regarding its priorities for 2011, Urling said the chamber is in the process of publishing its Business Guyana Magazine, which, he said is geared as a sensitization and marketing tool to encourage investors to see Guyana as an important business destination. “We are diligently working with our members to promote the idea that business and society share a complementary space and it is in the best interest of the chamber and our members to adopt and execute programmes that would enhance their corporate social responsibility and thus contribute to the overall development of Guyana,” Urling’s statement said. Additionally, Urling disclosed that one of the critical components for the chamber in 2011 will be “to engage all stakeholders to ensure that the general elections are conducted in an environment of accord and amity.” According to Urling, the chamber’s Governance and Security Committee is currently discussing possible interventions in order to achieve this goal.
