IN countries the world over, there are numerous government agencies-and many people have never known of the existence of some— including some you may very well never want to know exist, but then there are those you wish you knew more about, especially if interested in pursuing business and investment opportunities.

The Export Promotion Division (EPD) of the Guyana Office for Investment (GO-Invest), for example, is one of those agencies that have managed to achieve quite a bit in recent times, particularly when it comes to facilitating local businesses with an international partner.
This week my focus is on this department, since reportage in the media has been overtaken by other matters of late.
In October last, a number of Guyanese companies got the chance to benefit from and get a better perspective to the role the GO-Invest Export Division performs, and will continue to perform for generations to come, once equipped over time to meet changing demands.

FLORIDA EXPO

You see, at the end of October last, GO-Invest had facilitated the Guyana Trade, Tourism and Investment Expo at the Broward College Campus, in Fort Lauderdale,Florida.
At this unique affair, 53 Guyanese companies showcased their products and services, each looking for opportunities to integrate themselves further, businesswise, into the global community.
Guyana-branded home accessories, arts/sculptures, leather craft, garments, processed foods, furniture and wood products or jewellery among other items—they were all facilitated by this little-known Government division.
In fact, GO-Invest in its drive to fulfill the objective that led to its creation in the first place, has begun increasing its visibility on the international scene in securing increased commercial ingress and egress.
The Expo, I learnt, was held in collaboration with the Guyana Consulate in Florida, under the auspices of State Representative Hazelle Rogers and Barbara Sharief, Mayor of Broward County.
One of the objectives of the GO-Invest led event was to seek distributors in the USA for Guyanese products.
Several of those Guyanese businesses represented at the Expo were able to acquire markets and distributors for their products.
The GO-Invest mission was also not just to have scores of businesses showcase their merchandise, be it goods or services, to potential overseas business partners, but also to hold working sessions on how Guyana could be sold as the ideal place to invest.
GO-Invest, I understand, managed to secure collaboration with the Broward County Office of Economic & Small Business Development to organise a Doing Business in Guyana Workshop.
The “Invest Guyana 2015” magazine was officially launched at the Expo, which also saw presentations by GO-Invest, New GMC and the Guyana Rice Development Board.

AT HOME
As I was doing my research preparing for this article, there came a point when I began to wonder what this government agency does at home.
I was learning so much of its overseas achievements, but one of its mandates in assisting local exporters is not just to facilitate the establishment of overseas business links, but also to help exporters get their shipments out of Guyana with ease.
Effective networking with the Guyana Manufacturers’ & Services Association and Chambers of Commerce to ensure that their members are able to export their products hassle-free, has been one of the achievements that the staff at GO-Invest must be credited with.
The GO-Invest staff also works closely with the Customs & Trade Departments in Guyana and overseas to alleviate bureaucracy and remove bottlenecks for exporters as well as importers.

TRADE POINT GUYANA
Maintaining a global presence at all times will require cooperation, increased networking and, most of all, an embrace of 21st century technology; hence the establishment of Trade Point Guyana.
It was birthed out of the National Competitiveness Strategy with its simple yet grand objective: making it easier for Guyanese to export goods and services. This is achieved by providing exporters and potential exporters with a range of critical information and services that could help to reduce the cost of exporting.
One of the obvious benefits to the Guyanese exporter looking to tap into this resource is that with the inherent, reduced cost of exporting, they can now concentrate on supplying a better quality product or service.
This has been proven to increase competitiveness on the international market.
When stakeholders such as exporters and potential exporters, trade financiers, shippers, customs officials, government certifying agencies and government agencies are all brought to a single point in the digital world, innovative transactions are inevitable.
Trade Point Guyana is part of the global Trade Point Network in more than 70 countries, which holds as its ultimate goal, the creation of an environment where an exporter has easy access to services and information that makes exporting easier, especially for small and medium-scale exporters.
How does GO-Invest actually go about using this?
In a nutshell, Trade Point Guyana basically deals with offers and requests. An offer can be made on the international market by an exporter; the exporter basically provides the Trade Guyana Portal with the details of what he has to offer, at which quantities they are available and what prices, terms and conditions.
When compatible buyers are located, it doesn’t take rocket science to figure out what happens next.
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