A recent One-Stop-Shop business conference looked at empowering Lindeners of African descent on how to become successful entrepreneurs, a release from the Department of Public Information (DPI) said.
The conference was held by the International Decade for People of African Descent Assembly of Guyana (IDPAD-G), in collaboration with the African Business Roundtable (ABR) and the Nile Valley Economic Community (Nivalecom). It provided information through several agencies, including the Guyana Marketing Corporation, the Small Business Bureau , Citizens’ Bank, the Guyana Revenue Authority, the National Insurance Scheme and the Commercial and Deeds Registries, DPI said.
Several youths took the opportunity to fill out application forms for the accessing of loans and grants, that were made available by the (IDPAD-G). At the opening ceremony, President of the African Business Roundtable, Eric Phillips underlined the need for Linden officials and stakeholders to adopt a 10-10-10 economic plan to create up to 5,000 jobs. He cited 14 business initiatives including the development of a tourism sector.
Phillips said that these strides can only be made communally and urged Lindeners to work together to realize this goal as was done by their African fore parents, DPI said.
He rejected the view of Afro-Guyanese not having the capacity to own and manage successful businesses, something that their fore parents had done effectively. “We come from a great entrepreneurial heritage, that our ancestors were the first entrepreneurs, the first business people. We should not feel that business is not for us… We have to come together in a spirited community because our ancestors thought communally, so it’s not just about 100 chickens but 10,000, not about 100 acres but 10,000,” he said, according to DPI.
Similar sentiments were shared by African Movement Linden branch Chairman, Gary Croal, who also urged Lindeners to embrace the idea of communal entrepreneurship.
“It helps in the African way to maintain all the businesses all the time because businesses depend on each other; they are all inter-related by one business. That is how our fore parents grew, they interconnect every business along the villages, so if one business has a problem, all would know”, he said.
