‘It started in my living room’ – Shaws Media founder
Gregory Shaw
Gregory Shaw

NEARLY 12 years after venturing into freelance graphic design to earn an income after losing his job, Gregory Shaw has successfully transformed ‘Shaws Media’ into one of the leading graphics, signage and print production companies in Guyana.

Shaws Media, which trades under the name Shaw’s Investments, blends technology and creativity while providing the full gamut of marketing, advertising and branding services to the country’s business community, including those in the oil-and- gas sector.

Its line-up of services includes, but is not limited to, custom banners and dividers, vehicle wraps, stage backdrops, flyers and labels, point of sale displays, business cards, brochures, digital canvases and large-format graphics such as signs and billboards.

During an interview with the Guyana Chronicle, Shaw reflected on the company’s humble beginnings, and how he embarked on investing in its growth.

“I had actually borrowed a used laptop from my brother, and started designing items for people in my living room in 2010,” Shaw, the company’s proprietor, said.

For Shaw, taking the business pathway into graphic arts meant enrolling in a certified course at Global Technology Inc. He, however, took it a step further when he collaborated with printing companies, as, at the time, he did not have his own printing machinery.

Fortunately, with assistance from his family and close peers, Shaw secured equipment needed to make quality productions, and launched his company in 2016.

Noticing the growth in his customers, Shaw explored ways of making his business better with newer technologies to meet his increasing customer demands.

“I had the privilege of visiting Trinidad and Tobago,” he told the Guyana Chronicle. “I visited ‘expos’ and trade shows in the United States – Las Vegas, Orlando and Atlanta, and it really opened my eyes to what solutions I can bring back to the sign industry in Guyana,” he said.

BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS
With these experiences fuelling Shaw’s motivation, and with a strong team behind him, Shaw’s company built partnerships with local and international businesses, including Red Entertainment, Social Rank Media, and Sonic Business Services.

Reflecting on some of his company’s successes, Shaw said major graphics designs were done for oil-and-gas conferences held here in 2019 and 2022, and for other energy-related events.

Additionally, the company has produced signage and custom-made products for State agencies, retail stores, trading and distribution companies, logistics companies and restaurants, to name a few of its clients.

According to Shaw, the process of producing a basic interior or exterior large-format graphic such as a three-dimensional (3D) sign with channel lettering has several stages.

When a design is created and exported from a graphic design software in the company’s Graphic Design department, he said, it is ultimately printed from a high-powered large-format machine that performs a two-fold function.

The Computer Numerical Controlled (CNC) laser ‘cuts the face’ of the design into different shapes on a special material. Meanwhile, the automated channel bending apparatus bends the shapes by folding the edges neatly.

In production, these shapes undergo welding, fabricating, spraying and assembling. The finished large-format products are then transported for installation at the required destination.

“It is a careful process,” Shaw said, adding that his company prides itself on being ‘people-centric’, and making decisions that prioritise the needs of its dynamic team and stakeholders. Effective and efficient service delivery is the goal, he exclaimed.

Despite the success, Shaw said there are several obstacles he has had to overcome to be the leader and mentor he is today.

He said he firstly had to believe in himself, and learn to take lessons from failures he encountered along the way.

His unwavering self-confidence and determined spirit he attributes to the wisdom and guidance shared by his mother, Valerie Goorasammy-Smith, who, he said, constantly reassured him about the possibilities he could achieve.

PEACE OF MIND
While enhancing his operations over time within the country’s evolving business landscape, particularly the oil-and-gas industry, Shaw opined that the local-content legislation has given him ‘peace of mind’.

He expressed that the legislative framework provides Guyanese entrepreneurs like himself with access to, and benefits from the country’s natural resources.

As a local service provider, he said numerous opportunities have been provided for him to network with other companies, procure essential supplies and raw materials, and build a robust support channel.

“By being a registered member on the Centre for Local Business Development’s portal, we are supplied with training, we can opt in bids, we also get oil-and-gas industry information and news to develop our policies, especially our health and safety policies and procedures,” he explained.

Passionate about building a unique and profitable local signage brand, Shaw is focused on achieving three goals at the moment.

He wants to nurture the well-being and expertise of his team through training activities, invest in cutting-edge machinery and other equipment to automate processes, and expand the company’s warehousing facilities to increase storage capacity. “I’m glad the company gets to positively contribute to society!” he said in closing.

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