Last Friday Mr. and Mrs. Bish and Ahilia Panday donated one hundred thousand dollars each to eleven charitable organisations to assist with Christmas activities, which intensify during the festive season. The recipients were Bless the Children Home, Canaan Children’s Home, Hauraruni Girl’s Home, Ptolemy Reid Rehab Centre, Guyana Greenheart Autistic Society, Uncle Eddie’s Home, Archer’s Home, The Dharm Shala, David Rose school for the Handicapped, Cheshire Homes Guyana, and Bright Horizon Family.  Representatives of these organisations expressed deep appreciation for the Pandays’ ongoing generosity.
The Panday family is known for supporting institutions of learning, sporting events, community initiatives that benefit people, especially children; and for always contributing generously to persons who need life-saving medical or surgical interventions.
In a brief address Mr. Panday adjured the representatives to ensure that the donations optimally benefit the persons for whom it is intended, noting that oftentimes busy people who cannot reach everyone donate to organisations, only to learn that the intended recipients are left bereft while administrative staff use the gifts to augment administrative costs.  This, he warned, could be a disincentive and de-motive potential and habitual donors, who work hard to accrue the wherewithal to try to enhance the lives of the less fortunate.

A plethora of generous giving
Among the plethora of beneficiaries of the famed Panday generosity is the North Georgetown Primary school, which received a keyboard from P&P Insurance Brokers and Consultants Limited
The Pandays also made a donation of a computer to the North Georgetown Primary School, the winner of a quiz competition that was sponsored by the National Library as part of its centennial celebration.

Both Mr. Bish Panday, Managing Director of P & P and Ms. Gillian Thompson, Chief Librarian of the National Library congratulated North Georgetown Primary School on winning the quiz competition for primary schools.

In the area of sports, among the lavish donations was sponsorhip of air travel at a cost of USD$548 for Trenace Lowe to represent Guyana at the Junior Caribbean Table Tennis Championships 2009 in St. Kitts.
 

P&P Insurance Brokers and Consultants celebrates silver anniversary          
In December of 2010 the P & P and Panday families – one not extraneous to the other, celebrated
25 years of outstanding service to the insurance industry.

The Private Sector is the engine of economic growth and social and infrastructural development of any country. Civilization has evolved phenomenally from the Stone Age, and this is indisputably because of some brilliant and creative visionaries throughout the world who have blazed trails on which the rest of mankind have trod.
Within Guyana’s developmental landscape we first had the colonials, who were undoubtedly profit-motivated, but who, especially the Dutch, built social and physical infrastructures that are enduring. Then the African slaves who, after emancipation, laboriously saved their hard-earned pittances which they invested into entire communities that they subsequently bequeathed their offspring.
The Portuguese and Chinese established their peculiar lines of businesses, which projected Guyana on the world map of entrepreneurdom. Guyana’s first peoples, by their way of life, have preserved this country’s pristine rainforests so that President Bharrat Jagdeo could bargain at world fora for interchangeable bargains through Guyana’s LCDS, whereby Guyana could be financially compensated for the preservation of our rainforests so that the world can breathe.
And the indentured Indian immigrants of Guyana, who toiled and sacrificed unremittingly to create synergies that could propel their offspring on a trajectory that continually build on its own momentum so that descendants of that once very-oppressed people could scale the absolute heights in every area of endeavour, many of whom have evolved and grown to become shining stars in the firmament of global super-achievers.
Indisputably one of the brightest of those stars is Bish Panday, who embodies all things that a man should be – as a citizen of a country, as an entrepreneur, as a cultural and social activist, as a son and a sibling, as a friend and a business associate, as an exemplary husband and father, and most importantly as a human being with a super-abundance of civic-consciousness.

Poverty no deterrent to success
There was a time when Bish Panday had to study under street lights after a hard day’s work to earn an income to help maintain his siblings. Today the entrepreneurial dynasty he has built from extremely humble beginnings is solidly entrenched in the economic fabric of the land, and Bish Panday and his wife Ahilia are themselves providing light – literally and figuratively, to hundreds of homes nationwide..
The climb to success has had severe challenges for this relatively young and extremely good-looking power couple, but their strength lies in their rock-steady marriage, which is a total partnership of and in all things, and they have inexorably climbed their way to the top of the entrepreneurial and social world of Guyana, and even beyond.
Genesis of P & P Insurance Brokers and Consultants Ltd.
After a brief stint as a legal clerk Bish joined Guyana and Trinidad Mutual Fire Insurance Company as a junior clerk in May of 1974 – 36 years ago. After a series of rapid promotions – an indication and portent of things to come, he was appointed Deputy Manager of the insurance company in 1981, which was a position he held until December of 1983, when he left to join Hand-in-Hand Fire Insurance Company as the General Manager. He served in that capacity until December of 1985, the fateful year that he co-founded P&P Insurance Brokers and Consultants Ltd, becoming sole owner within six years, in 1991.
From relative obscurity as a very insignificant player in the private sector Bish Panday has scaled the greatest heights in achievement, serving as Director on several Boards, and as Chairman on the Guyana National Newspapers Board; GDB – television as it then was, and the Guyana Broadcasting Corporation. He was also a hands-on dynamic member of the Interim Management Council (IMC), the disbanding of which left the city resembling its former state as the Garden City and the City Council in the black for the first time in decades.
Civic-minded Bish has also served as Vice-Chairman on the Board of Guyana Stores Ltd, as well as Commissioner on the Georgetown Sewerage and Water Commission. His love of sports compelled him to invest heavily of his time and resources – serving as Secretary of the Georgetown Cricket Board for nearly two decades, and also as President of the Georgetown Cricket Association.
For durations of over a decade P&P has also supported and facilitated the sporting disciplines of table tennis, cycling, horse racing, athletics and motor racing, among others. The brokerage has also strongly supported the cultural and educational sectors; as well as other events, activities, distressed individuals, especially those suffering from life-threatening ailments, such as six-year-old Sherlock Semple who recuperated nicely after brain surgery; and even countries facing disaster.
Bish has served two terms as President of the Insurance Institute of Guyana (IIG) and as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the IIG, Director of the Guyana Legal Aid Clinic, and member of the Implementation Committee of the Georgetown Municipality under the Chairmanship of Keith Burrowes.

Serving with integrity and trust
This is the mantra of the Pandays, and during the Silver Jubilee observations Panday remarked that this was an occasion for celebration of the company’s success, as well as a time for reflection in relation for the lessons learnt over the years.
He said on that occasion that P&P Insurance Brokers and Consultants Ltd can today be considered a successful business outfit and an accepted and respected member of the business community.
Alluding to the “particular economic circumstances of Guyana” which the company had to navigate into calmer fiscal waters, because events in 1985 would indicate that the financial services sector at that time was a dramatically different sector than that obtaining today,      
 
P&P has been a consistent supporter of Kemal Rahaman in racing meets and above Ms. Christina Abdool, Account Executive of P&P presents the racing driver with a cheque as sponsorship for the motor-racing event.
P & P also sponsors an Annual P&P Insurance Brokers & Consultants Limited Youth Cycle Programme at the National Park Circuit.
 
Mr. Bish Panday of P&P has sponsored this event since 2005.
But he is cricket-lover etraordinaire and one cricket-lover wrote about Panday in the media as follows:

“It is with resounding enthusiasm that I am endorsing Mr Bishwa Panday, affectionately called ‘Bish’ by many, for the presidency of the Guyana Cricket Board. In just a few years Panday has effectively changed the way that cricket is administered in Georgetown. Since assuming the helm of the Georgetown Cricket Association, Panday’s leadership has resulted in greater accountability, transparency and a positive change in the development of the game we all love. I have witnessed the culmination of his plans and policies which successfully led to an increase in competitions being played and new corporate sponsors.
He has inspired many around him, players and executives alike to raise their level of commitment.
With the current world economic crisis, corporate sponsors are evaluating their commitment to sports, and Guyana is no exception. Therefore at the level of the Guyana Cricket Board there will be a greater need for effective utilisation of resources. There will be a greater need for effective leadership. There will be a greater need for change, vision and a clear articulation of that vision. There will be a need for Mr Bish Panday. Armed with his business savvy and corporate relationships, Bish is the type of president the GCB needs.
At the grassroots level, Bish has been very active and visible. He often meets with players, coaches and parents of young cricketers, all in an effort to develop cricket and the players.
This is not meant to cast aspersions on the current President, but it is time for new leadership. It is time for change.
I thank the current President for his 17 years of leadership. However, in looking to the future, a new president and a new vision is needed to lift the level of the sport higher. The new president should be an effective communicator, possess strong management skills, and be able to liaise with regional and international counterparts in the interest of the GCB. In my opinion Panday meets and exceeds those requirements.
I strongly believe, and others have confided in me as well, that under Bishwa Panday’s presidency, cricketers and fans alike can expect great things in the future. I therefore encourage those persons to join me in supporting Panday in his efforts.
Yours faithfully,
Alfred Mentore
Cricket Administrator”.
If anyone can be said to be all things to all men (and women, and children), Bish Panday is that man.