AN India/Guyana Chamber of Commerce (IGCC) was launched on Saturday at the Pegasus Suites and Corporate Centre during the opening ceremony of a business roundtable event hosted as part of the visit by India’s External Minister Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar to Guyana.

Businessman and former national cricketer Ramnaresh Sarwan, owner of Amazonia Mall in Guyana, has been selected as the Chamber’s President, while another former national cricketer-turned-businessman, Steven Jacobs is one of the Senior Vice-Presidents. Jacobs is also a contractor, and the owner of Jacobs Jewellery and Pawnshop.

Alongside them are Lead Director and Chairman of John Fernandes Limited David Fernandes (Senior Vice-President); Chairman of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) Kalamazad Ibrahim (Vice President); Managing Director of Opulent Consulting Inc. Shaleeza Shaw (Treasurer); Founder and President of Texila American University Consortium Saju Bhaskar (Secretary); and Operations Director of Ekaa Hrim, Earth Resources Management Sreebala Kumar (Secretary).

Speaking with the Sunday Chronicle on the sidelines of the event, Sarwan said he was honoured to be selected as the inaugural President of this new body.

“I’m really excited about this. Given where Guyana is headed, and the history that we have shared together with India, having a relationship with India provides a link for a lot more businesses to know about Guyana. We just want to ensure that every Guyanese is opened to as many opportunities, and also give the businesses in India opportunities as well,” Sarwan related.
He noted that discussions about the formation of the Chamber have only been ongoing for a short period of time, and so, the executives will be putting in much work over the next few months to finalise the Chamber’s structure and operations.

“It’s been just a few weeks that we started really and truly putting things together; we’re still working on finalising some things, but we thought it would‘ve been a great opportunity to do it while the Minister from India is here. But we’re still in the process of doing some work,” Sarwan noted.

The Chamber is on a mission to serve regional businesses in India and Guyana through advocacy, economic development, connectivity, culture and education, and promoting trade and investment among the businesses.

The need for the Chamber was identified after a number of high-level visits to India by delegations of public and private sector officials from Guyana. The Chamber was formed with the focus of continuing the connection between private sector members from both sides. (Tamica Garnett)