By Lisa Hamilton

AIMING to boost the local economy, Agorua International presents itself as new online shopping site where Guyanese can purchase products from local companies and receive them at a much faster rate.

The business was established in May 2017 by founders Delissa Pratt and Yonnick Pratt who wanted to bring a convenient, safe and reliable shopping experience to Guyanese.
After realising the challenges that can arise when individuals try to juggle family, career and shopping responsibilities, the two came up with the idea to make the lives of citizens easier while driving local business.

All of the products on the site are sourced from companies in Guyana that provide both local and internationally manufactured products which enables Agorua International to make deliveries within 1-2 business days.
This is an advantage that many companies which ship goods from overseas can seldom boast.

“The bigger picture for our company is to facilitate local shopping. We out-source so much…If you don’t have the time to walk down Regent Street and shop and compare prices…the idea behind the company is to create this accessibility and availability to consumers,” she explained.

This also allows the site to be a multi-vendor platform through which several businesses can sign up to advertise and sell their products while consumers will be better able to compare prices.

So far, the company only advertises electronics but, in the future, the Pratt founders hope to expand beyond to clothing items and more with the inclusion of businesses which promote strictly locally-made products.

“If we can do everything in-house, in Guyana, we’re looking at job creation and building our local economy. That’s why the picture is so much bigger than just selling products, it’s about changing the culture,” Delissa said.

Agorua International only utilises electronic payment systems such as debit and credit cards and PayPal accounts.

Realising that many Guyanese fear this means of payment, the founders ascertained that company’s website is SSL certified which guarantees that all data is secure and business transactions are authentic.

In addition, businesses who sign up to promote their products with Agorua will go through a vetting process and only items of the highest quality will be accepted on to the site.
For unfortunate cases, the founders indicate that the company is backed by a warranty and return policy which allows customers to return a product in its original condition within 30 days of purchase.

Thus far, its service is being offered to regions Three, Four, Five and 10 and free deliveries are available around Georgetown for orders that cost US $45 or more.

https://agorua.com/