On a mission to have everyone ‘Experience GT’

INNATELY, she has a knack for adventuring. The thrill of climbing mountains or moving across rivers rushing by is an incomparable feeling. And she just can’t keep this all to herself.

That’s Shannita Ramnarine for you- a young woman bent on travelling far and wide, at home and abroad.

“I love to travel,” she said, but explained too: “Not just being in a different place but dealing with everything travel related. I am excited about the whole planning process, building itineraries, finding the most efficient way of getting there, looking for accommodations researching restaurants and so forth.”

But for someone so invested in travelling and travelling to new places, she was not always as brave. In fact, one of her biggest fears was travelling alone in a country that spoke a language foreign to her.

Ramnarine recollected that in December 2017- just less than a year ago- she embarked on a solo journey to Brazil without knowing any Portuguese. She spent about two and a half weeks and stayed in three cities: Manaus, Rio de Janeiro and Foz do Iguaçu.

“After completing that trip I’m no longer afraid. I can literally now go anywhere alone and all I feel is excitement,” Ramnarine affirmed.

You see this also ties into who she is as a person. The young woman said: “I am a big believer in overcoming fears so the things I fear most I usually try to attempt first and get them out of the way.”

And that’s where ‘Experience GT’, what she hopes to be her legacy, comes to play.

Experience GT is a tourism-focused small business that strives to have people experience the magnificence of Guyana.

The motivation driving this business forward each day, for Ramnarine, is that: “I want to see Guyana realise its full potential when it comes to tourism, I want to see tourism being a major contributor to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Guyana being amongst the top destinations in the world.”

Starting a business was another one of her fears, however. She wanted to get involved in the sector and eventually she made the plunge but she realised that she knew little about running a business.

What she did know however was that she loves travelling, she has experience planning trips for friends and family at home and abroad and she wanted to contribute to tourism in Guyana. You could say these were the ingredients to Experience GT.

To get the pot fired up now, she would have to seek out business training. And that’s what she did and she stumbled across Action Coach Guyana. The training might have been a little pricey for her, but fortunately, Scotiabank had its Vision Achiever programme, where one of the rewards for competing was that the finalists will receive business training from Action Coach alongside some funds for their startup business. Ramnarine wasted no time in getting involved and ended up as a finalist.

“The training was phenomenal, it reinforced the little business knowledge I had and it taught me so many new things,” she highlighted.

Still receiving some training, she is working on rebranding the business and making it much better than it was before. At its core, however, it will remain unchanged.

Experience GT tours usually cater for a minimum of 10 people. And some of the day trip destinations include Orealla, Santa Mission, Lake Capoey, Linden, Pakuri and birdwatching on the Mahaica River.

Multi-day trips are also done, with adventures into the Rupununi Adventure which lasts for four days and a Kaieteur overland trip, which last for three days and is packed.

But the adventures won’t stop there. In fact, Ramnarine is exploring expansion.

“It is always exciting to bring a new destination, and we have been focusing heavily on collaboration so that has been working very well,” she said. And so far, the support has been great, but she contended that it is just a matter of the business gaining more recognition.

Not because she wants her business to succeed, but because she wants to see the frontiers of tourism in Guyana pushed as far as it can go, Ramnarine highlighted that it is critical for every Guyanese to become an ambassador for the country.

“We need to focus a bit more on domestic tourism first,” she stressed. “I’ve been focusing more heavily on that target group and I can tell you when Guyanese people travel this country they appreciate it.” And to allow people to become ambassadors, she said opportunities need to be provided for them to experience this vast country. Experience GT is just the solution, according to her.

When she’s not off on a new adventure, she’s dedicating her time to moulding young minds.

“I’m an educator by profession,” she said and highlighted: “[I’m] currently a trained graduate mistress at Queen’s College and a tutor at the University of Guyana.” Science is in her nature.

But perhaps her strongest nature is her mindset. “I don’t set limitations on myself, I really believe I can achieve anything I want to because at the end of the day it comes down to the attitude you have towards whatever you’re working on or towards,” she stated.