IN comparison to last year’s International Building Expo, there has been a hundred per cent increase in the number of businesses and companies participating, further providing a variety of opportunities for further growth and development.

This was according to Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CHPA), Sherwyn Greaves, during his address to the gathering at the opening of the expo at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence, on Thursday.

“We are thrilled to report a 100 per cent growth in the number of businesses and companies joining us this year…this platform offers opportunities for Guyanese of all walks of lives to network and explore all available opportunities and possibilities in the housing and construction sector,” Greaves said.
He related that as the four-day expo continues, businesses should explore, learn and collaborate, all in the pursuit of a stronger, more vibrant future for Guyana.
Many of the participants said that they hope to gain exposure, and second time participants of the expo even shared how last year’s expo benefited their companies.
According to JSB Investments Inc. – Group of Companies’ Marketing and PR Manager, Amelia Ali, this is their first time participating in the expo, and it has been a great experience so far.

“We have a great opportunity to meet potential clients, to meet other businesses that could benefit us or either we could benefit them. I would like to commend the Ministry of Housing because they did a splendid job…we are hoping to get exposure, we are hoping to get more clients,” she said.
JSB is a parent company which has many other businesses that deal with construction, sand supplying and more.
CEO of Tropic Construction Solutions, Sonya Oodit, related that her company gained much exposure after participating in the 2022’s expo.
“We are distributors of Geotextiles fabric, PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) gear in Guyana. [We hope to] gain more exposure, we gained a lot of exposure last year, but we hope to grow more this year,” she said.

The company’s Technical Assistant, Norman Jaipargas related that their business has increased by 40 per cent from last year’s expo and they hope to continue to grow, while remaining a reliable company, supplying the fabrics for the roads, hospitals, hotels and sea defence and the PPEs.
Additionally, the Guyana Chronicle spoke with the Operations Manager of Rong An Inc., Kevindra Tularam, who said that they are at the expo to showcase to Guyanese the products and services that they offer.

“We are a producer, exporter and buyer of Guyana Tropical timber species and it ranges from 25 to 30 commercial species and of course apart from logging, we also engage in road construction, bridge repairs throughout Guyana, especially the hinterland region,” he said.
A representative of Flexotech Inc., Farzad Rahaman, said that they are a polymer producing company which manufactures packaging materials for all industries such as bread bags, construction plastic, and more.

While they have only been in existence for about four years, Rahaman believes that the expo will give them the highlight they need to further develop their business and become larger suppliers.

“The company is new, so a lot of persons probably don’t know about us, so coming to a forum as this…it gives the country a fair idea of what we are, so they can come on board with us,” he said.

Additionally, a representative of W1 Houston Inc. said that the expo was a success again, as it was last year. “…looking at the number of booths, looking at the number of people coming in here, the quality of the presentations, the quality of the environment and everything like that,” he said.