The earlier diligent efforts of a cross section of local businesses to maximize consumer attention to their goods and services which, in the past, have benefitted from little or no public accreditation, continues to undergo a steady transformation on account of the initiatives being undertaken by the Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS) to affix deserving recognition to the profiles of those businesses. Indeed, so preoccupied is the state-run entity with drawing consumer attention to product quality standards that it continues to publicize its ‘Made in Guyana’ mark and to provide the coveted quality standard accreditation that can take local companies ‘places.
So focused is the GNBS’ attention on positioning local product and service entities to attract enhanced levels of public appeal that, over time, it has become one of the country’s most widely publicized entities in the services sector. The work of the GNBS has come to public attention as higher performance standards are being demanded of establishments in both the public and private sectors even as the window to business-related interaction with the rest of the international community opens ever wider.
Currently, and not for the first time, the GNBS is pressing the media into service to help spread the word on the matter of its standards-enhancing mission, its ‘Made in Guyana’ mark serving as a Badge of Honour that contributes to the momentum required to take Guyana places.
Certification, which is preceded by a range of tests that lead to the adoption of standards designed to add value to the product on both local and external markets comes with accolades which quickly filter down to the consuming public for their responses. Numbered among the businesses certified by the GNBS in August was Ashdel’s Enterprise, an Enterprise, East Coast Demerara Company owned by one-time Guyana School of Agriculture employee Grace Parris. Ashdel turns out Instant ‘eats’ that include Plantain Porridge, Beef Pepperpot, and Veggie Pepperpot. While these dishes are common to the conventional local culinary regime, the contemporary manufacture of their ‘Instant’ options reveals the extent to which Guyanese continue to infuse enhanced levels of technology into their food preparation.
Ashdale’s Enterprise has also become noted for its various other culinary ‘inventions’ that include a range of Instant Soups – Chicken, Plantain, Cassava, Sweet Potato, Noodles, Vegetables, Sweet Pepper, and Celery, twisted to accommodate the array of taste buds that they are prepared to please. Grace’s passion for cooking was born in her mother’s kitchen, the home of a family catering establishment. Her curiosity for the culinary disciplines was through her encounter with a schools’ curriculum that included a discipline named Food and Nutrition. The advent of Covid19 afforded Grace the ‘down time’ to further refine her skills in product development as well as to pay a deeper interest in product presentation, particularly packaging and labeling.
These days, Grace says, she is focused on growing her business and on experimenting with further culinary options. She has come to see herself as a seasoned campaigner having covered significant portion of the market. Her impressive list of clients/customers includes The Guyana Shop, DSL Outlets, and Bounty Supermarkets. Success has restrained her from embarking on a more extensive marketing campaign. Focused on the consolidation of her business, Parris has channeled the monies secured from her gratuity to create a commercial kitchen. It is an unmistakable sign that she intends to continue to forge ahead to see where her culinary adventure that is now a thriving business takes her.
