The Guyana Manufacturing & Services Association (GMSA) has released some details of a plan to pilot the creation of a local web portal in support of significantly enhanced sharing of information and the refining of connectivity and communication aimed at linking local product and service providers with potential markets locally, regionally, and internationally.
The project, the GMSA says, is an extension of what has been an ongoing initiative by the Association over the past three years to seek significantly enhanced market access for local producers including the frequently neglected enterprises in the micro- and small-business sectors.
In recent years the GMSA has stood out among local Business Support Organizations (BSO’s) for the role which it has played in popularising the goods and services in the small business sector including the agriculture, agro-processing and craft sectors. The information provided by the GMSA says that the planned portal is an extension of its efforts to popularise those goods and services that began with the staging of the well-supported UncappeD initiative.
In recent years the GMSA has moved to assume a new leadership role in the realm of small business promotion including providing direct support in the production process. This, in circumstances where the growth of micro and small businesses continues to be limited by the existing minimal growth-related support from government in addition to their being seen in many instances as lending risks by the banking sector. It has also won a considerable measure of credit for its work in extending its reach to include small and micro enterprises (SMEs) across Guyana.
The Association’s UncappeD initiative had been responded to with widespread enthusiasm by scores of small businesses seeking to expand their clientele. In addition to raising the profile of more than a hundred (100) of the country’s agro-processors from across the country the UncappeD initiative also facilitated the creation of links among producers, suppliers and support service entities which the GMSA said had served “to enhance the development of synergies, while increasing market awareness of local products.” The GMSA’s 2018 local product promotion pursuits were followed up in 2019 by two UncappeD Marketplace events in March and December, respectively. Taken together, the two events attracted one hundred and fifty (150) participants from the agro-processing sector. Both events were staged at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence, and the GMSA said that they served “to support the purchase of locally produced agro-processed products to boost small businesses and the economy” and to further heighten awareness of the productive capabilities of the agro- processing sector.
Beyond its work designed to lend greater visibility to the country’s small and micro businesses, the GMSA says that it is advancing initiatives in other sectors including forestry and wood products, construction, engineering, and services, “in an effort to strengthen the value chain and to realize a greater share of national procurement for locally manufactured goods and services” while supporting the marketing pursuits of export-ready enterprises. This initiative, it says, is in sync “with the national focus on Local Content and the maximizing of procurement of locally manufactured goods and services.”
