With the aim of creating more opportunities for its members the Guyana Women Miners Organisation helped arrange for a small group to travel to the US to be part of the annual 18th Americas Food & Beverage Show and conference.
Held on October 27 and 28 in Miami the conference and show, according to those who attended, has created an opportunity for small businesses to have direct contact with suppliers, weeding out the middleman cost.
“For small businesses in Guyana, this trip is definitely the beginning of many more such trips that should take place because… it exposed us to the big players in the field and puts [us] in a position where we could bypass the middle people who pushing the prices up,” Eion Williams told the Sunday Stabroek in a telephone interview from overseas.
Williams, an associate member of the GWMO, is part owner of the Williams’ Brothers supermarket in Bartica, a business that has been in operation for over forty years and which they are looking to expand.
According to GWMO President Simona Broomes, it was the first time Guyanese had been part of the event. She said that the opportunity emerged when the organization was looking at the empowerment of women and was examining the sector which had given an indication that there may be a need for business diversification.
She said that during the organisation’s engagement with the US Embassy here in Georgetown it was indicated that they were looking for new opportunities for women in business, and coming out of those discussions the GWMO was invited by the US State Department through the embassy to attend the conference.
A grateful Broomes said that the GWMO did not have to pay the registration fee at the conference while the other expenses were covered by those who attended.
The members managed to have discussions with the distributors of various products, which was ideal for members who have supermarkets in areas such as Bartica, Mahdia and Linden.
“We wanted to see how could we really get into the market and it was a golden opportunity to know that we could actually meet with the companies who manufacture these products for better pricing and so on…” Broomes said.
She said they were fortunate also to meet with representatives from the security agencies who were part of the conference and who explained the requirements for exporting items from the US.
According to Broomes they have now been able to establish a supermarket chain that would include others, who would pool their resources to share shipping and other costs, and present themselves to the companies as one unit.
Six persons out of the group have their own businesses and they represented themselves as being together.
‘Real benefit’
Meanwhile, Williams told this newspaper that in order to derive real benefit from the trip, small businesses would have to come together as a team.
“In terms of personal advantage, I have already been able to make contact with two people that I am going to do business with directly, where I am going to be able to bring my products directly from Florida in the warehouse and have it shipped to Guyana,” he said.
He described this as a “good thing” as when he calculated the cost he would be able to put the products on his shelves at a much lower price than before. While that is a big plus, he said, it should not be a matter of what “I could get out of it” because that kind of mindset would be defeating the purpose of the exercise; rather it should be small businesses coming together.
“We are going to be able to bring in containers filled of stuff at a much cheaper rate,” he told Sunday Stabroek, making it clear that it is not about collaborating only with those who were on the trip, but bringing on board owners of other small businesses who are interested.
He said he could “be selfish and do it on my own,” becoming a distributor to other people but for him that too would be to lose sight of the real object, in addition to which it should not be limited to four or five persons.
Williams also took a swipe at the almost invisible Guyana Small Business Association (GSBA) which he said might not still exist, but if it did it should have been creating opportunities such as these for small businesses.
“I think what was done there, it may be filling the gap for what the Small Business Association should be doing…” he said.
As an associated member of the GWMO, Williams said he was with the organisation from the beginning when Broomes revealed her vision.
“I would proudly say that this is an organisation that has definitely been making a significant contribution to the people of Guyana,” Williams said.
Amanda Peters, who is in mining and also has businesses in Imbaimadai, Region 7, and was also part of the trip said while she was focused on finding new opportunities to expand her mining business, when she arrived and saw the variety of food items and beverages on display that were not available in Guyana she immediately changed her focus. She felt she could become a representative for one of the companies or even go in the direction of opening a restaurant or supermarket.
Peters, who has river and land claims, said she also has what she described as a “range” where people can rent rooms.
“It is not just for persons who come and work and might want to stay, but we also cater for the Prime Minister, GGMC officers or even the President if he wants to come; we have real nice accommodation,” Peters said.
Not the first trip
And Broomes said the recent trip has been the fourth business trip to the US for the year by members of the GWMO.
“We had women travelling to Miami…and buying their own ATVs (all-terrain vehicles), excavator parts and things like that, because you know there is the duty free…and you know to buy an ATV here would cost like US$15,000,” Broomes said, adding that buying it in Miami with the cost of shipping included it would come to under US$7,000.
With gold prices continuing to slide, the GWMO president encouraged women in the sector to re-examine the mining landscape, and look at getting into other businesses or even leaving the mining sector altogether, as it is still difficult to travel into the interior with transportation not being woman friendly. She also pointed out the continued difficulty women in the interior face with gender-based violence where security is almost non-existent.
“There is no change in the social aspect of the structure of the industry; women still suffer the same way. So a lot of women now when they meet a certain age, they are thinking if I have some money what do I do…” Broomes said, suggesting they move into another business.
Broomes noted that even though the system is not very supportive of women in the sector they should come together as a group to lift the bar as there are very successful women in the sector who could do it.
She described last month’s trip as a fantastic opportunity where they could meet with investors directly and eliminate the middleman. She said they would be part of the conference next year.
Some who were on the trip are doing follow-ups with companies and some are looking at becoming distributors for some of the companies.
