RADIKA Basdeo, owner of agro-processing business, Basdeo Dynasty, is more than just an agro-processor, she is an overcomer who beat naysayers to establish her own agro-processing business that, today, is a thriving small business.

“I amaze myself sometimes with the amount of challenges I faced and how I got past them, especially from some particular family members. They were like: ‘why do you want to get into that [making agro processed products], you don’t need stuff like that, that is for people with no class,’ Basdeo said in an interview.

“But I would [reprimand] them and say, ‘pride doesn’t pay any bills,’” the young mother stressed.
Basdeo started her business a year ago in the midst of the pandemic. Not many persons around her understood what agro-processing meant.

“There were some friends too!” she lamented.
“They would be like: ‘oh you do that?’ They tried to downgrade you (sic) so much. But the amount of opportunities that it has provided for me, they were so shocked,” an excited Basdeo said.

Since taking on her new field, Basdeo has attended seminars on marketing and sales. Her naysayers eventually changed their tune. “They would be so surprised and be like (sic): ‘Really! I didn’t expect you to bloom in such a way, or expect that the business you are getting into would take you to meet so many people and see so many opportunities opening up for you’.”

Tears flooded the 22-year-old’s eyes as she tells her story of being a single teenage mother who was once told that she would not amount to much. but she smiles as she speaks about rising above it all to prove many wrong in their thoughts about how far she could go.

“When I first got into it, I was a single mom at that time. I had my first child at 17,” the 22-year-old mother explained as tears flooded her eyes.
“Being a teenage mother, it was very challenging,” she reflected as memories of some of the discouraging words from others came back to her thoughts.

“All of that changed because this year, I even got engaged to someone who respects me, adores me and appreciates me,” Basdeo said, beaming with pride.
Growing up in Enmore, East Coast Demerara (ECD), Basdeo started her agro-processing business producing mango achar.

Today, her business expanded to include pepper sauce, plantain flour, mixed masala, turmeric, geera, nutmeg, and salted fish. Her products are on sale at both of Georgetown’s major markets, Bourda and Stabroek.
“There were lots of days when I said I can’t do this anymore because it hurts so bad. But I had my dad, my mom and my other family members encouraging me. I’m also so thankful and grateful for my nieces and nephews because they help me to push forward so much,” she shared.

Basdeo is growing her business and looking to employ support staff.
“Now when I hear positive feedback about my products, I feel so nice and so relieved. I made a difference in someone’s life! They’re looking for my products!… This gives me the strength to keep pushing every day harder and harder,” Basdeo says.

Although she never envisioned this would be here niche, Basdeo always wanted to own her own business. She credits her father, a farm owner, for pushing her in the direction of making value-added products.
Basdeo praised the Guyana Marketing Corporation (GMC), and other government agencies for initiatives which, she said, has been a major support for her getting off the ground.
Through the GMC, Basdeo accessed a three-month course on packaging and labelling. “That has really helped me to evolve with the packaging and labelling and how to improve it,” she said.