–Tourism, Industry & Commerce Minister says Guyanese businesses meeting int’l standards, improving quantity, quality
BOASTING improved operational standards, Guyanese businesses are now operating on a global scale with many enterprises achieving international certification, Tourism, Industry and Commerce Minister, Susan Rodrigues has said.
“We are now operating on a global scale. Our ‘Made in Guyana’ certification mark initiative has been very successful. We’re now collaborating with the Guyana Office for Investment (GO-Invest) to expand this initiative and broaden its scope,” the minister said while addressing the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry Awards and Gala last week.
The certification programme is a Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS) initiative to promote local products by awarding a certification mark, ensuring quality, boosting local content (70 per cent local staff, 60 per cent local materials), enhancing competitiveness, building consumer trust and supporting Guyanese businesses through quality frameworks and market advantage.
According to the minister, a more robust programme will be introduced.
“The enhanced version will include stricter criteria to meet export requirements, but it will bring more companies under the brand-Guyana umbrella and allow for improved export readiness and access to new markets.”
In addition to this, the government has been working closely with its international partners to support women-led enterprises, ensuring that they have equitable opportunities to advance their skills, talent and knowledge to spur growth and sustainability.
“We also work with the IDB [Inter-American development Bank] to provide technical assistance to 60 women-led businesses to support their efforts to meet certification requirements of that number; 27 businesses have already achieved full certifications.”
Minister Rodrigues commended the GCCI for working with micro, small and medium enterprises, and especially women-owned and led small and medium-sized businesses.
TRADE FACILITATION, ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY & TECHNOLOGICAL PROGRESS
Soon the government, she noted, will place heavy emphasis on trade facilitation, environmental responsibility and technological progress. This will see even broader training opportunities becoming available for standards development.
“In 2025 alone, the GNBS trained almost 900 persons to various businesses and organisations on standards, and this focus on training will continue in the area of standards development, the Bureau has developed a national standardisation strategy for 2026 to 2028.”
Minister Rodrigues explained that this structure is needed to address existing institutional and legal gaps.
This will begin in the new year as the government intends to continue its open collaboration with all private-sector bodies, including the GCCI, in building a national culture of standards.
“We had to focus on quantity, but in the next five years, we want to focus on quality. And while the government has been raising the bar and raising standards all over the place, we encourage the private sector to take advantage of all the training, all of the packages that are available to help you [and] to introduce quality and standards into your business,” she said.
