-new training, consortiums, Caribbean export opportunities aim to expand growth for small businesses
WOMEN in agro-processing are receiving stronger support as the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) ramps up programmes to help them grow their businesses.
With targeted training, and guidance on marketing, branding, and packaging, the chamber is helping women entrepreneurs expand their reach. Moreover, consortiums and initiatives to export Guyanese goods to Trinidad, Barbados, and beyond are creating new opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises.
Speaking to the Guyana Chronicle, GCCI President Kathy Smith said that while the chamber worked to develop its Micro and Women Entrepreneurship Learning Centre, the next step is to foster real business growth and sustainability through capacity-building. Highlighting the centre’s launch in 2025 and the next steps for 2026, Smith added, “It was good to see our micro and women centre actually came into fruition, so that we could start working with the women because it is a centre that is going to target women in agro-processing.”
Smith highlighted that 50 women-led small businesses will be targeted, with the GCCI focused on helping the entrepreneurs learn about marketing, branding, packaging, and labelling, as well as how they can take their products into regional and international markets. “We targeted about 50 women, women-owned businesses. We want to enhance their productivity, resilience, and market-readiness in terms of agro-processing,” she said, adding, “The plan is to strengthen their agriculture value chain. Also, we want to promote their client-resilience and value-added production. We really want to get them into a space where they feel confident that they can compete with other businesses around the region, and even internationally.”
Smith described the centre and the opportunities offered as being more than just training. It will also foster a collaborative group of small entrepreneurs learning from each other, with the chamber providing support in areas of export readiness, compliance, and financial literacy. However, work does not stop at trainings, said Smith. Highlighting phase two of the centre, she added, “The centre now has a phase two of it. Which is a collaboration to get the exports into Trinidad and Barbados; we want to get our members very structured, so that they can ensure that they have the right amount of supplies in hand, they have an understanding of the documentation needed for exporting.”
Further highlighting the chamber’s push for small and medium-sized businesses on the international stage, Smith stated that the chamber has already helped Guyanese businesses gain regional exposure, a milestone she describes as a key achievement.
“Through an initiative by President Ali, our members, particularly small and medium-sized manufacturers and producers, would now get to ship or export their products to Trinidad and Tobago, which also is a collaboration with Ansa McAL to ensure that small manufacturers and producers can have access to Ansa McAL supermarkets and so on around Trinidad and Barbados,” she said. “We saw the growth of our economy, and we are happy that it is not just opportunities for large businesses only.”
Moreover, the chamber is continuing its work on building business communities and consortiums, with seven consortiums already being targeted. “Consortiums, one of the things the government has been talking a lot about, partnership and consortia building for local businesses. GCCI has started. We are targeting around seven consortiums where members will be able to pool their resources,” Smith said. “We are at a place now where we would have sent out an expression of interest to our members; they have sent in their names to say, well, this is the sector that they want to be in.”
With these initiatives, the GCCI aims to create a stronger, more connected network of small businesses, ensuring women entrepreneurs and other small-business owners are equipped to compete both regionally and internationally.
