–to build capacity as Guyana Development Bank set to enhance access to financing

THE Chairman of the Private Sector Commission (PSC), Captain Gerald Gouveia Jr, has said Guyana’s private sector is ready to support small businesses and startups as the Guyana Development Bank (GDB) moves from legislation to operation, promising low‑cost finance and technical backing for ordinary Guyanese.
Appearing on the Starting Point podcast, Gouveia said the new bank is among the private sector’s top three priorities, describing it as a long‑awaited response to persistent complaints about access to finance.
“I would argue that this is probably in our top three priorities that needed to happen, in the sense that from a private-sector perspective, access to finance has been a cry from the private sector for years,” Gouveia said, adding: “We’ve always been asking for access to finance, better access to finance. Now we’re very happy to see that there’s a lot more commercial banks that are entering Guyana. We’re happy to see the merchant banks coming into Guyana. Happy to see the EXIM banks of the world coming into Guyana and the IDB and so on. And they’re doing amazing work”
He stressed that the GDB is not geared towards large conglomerates, but is specifically designed for those who struggle to meet traditional banking requirements.
Under the model, he said borrowers will be able to access low‑interest or no‑interest loans with little or no collateral.
“What this development bank is doing is adding more opportunities for the Guyanese entrepreneur, the Guyanese startup, because that’s really where it’s geared. It’s not geared to the very large conglomerates. This is a bank that is geared to startups. It’s a bank that’s geared to the single mothers. It’s a bank that’s geared to the young entrepreneur; the student coming out of UG with a bright idea,” Gouveia said.
‘WE HAVE BEEN PREPARING THEM TO BE BANKABLE’
Gouveia, however, cautioned that money alone is not enough, and disclosed that private-sector bodies have already been working for over a year to prepare entrepreneurs to take advantage of the new bank.
He said organisations such as the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA), the Women’s Chamber, the Berbice Chamber, the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) and the PSC itself are setting up business-support desks and entrepreneur-support programmes.
These initiatives, he noted, are in many cases offered free of charge, and cover business planning, financial planning, compliance and certification and supply-chain management
“Even ahead of the development bank, we had the mandate to get these entrepreneurs bankable, and that’s really the objective,” he said, adding: “We want to develop a package with them that they can take… to any commercial bank in Guyana or internationally, and now the development bank.”
Gouveia said the PSC’s broader ambition is to grow small firms into medium and then large companies which could emerge as regional or global brands.
“What we want to see are all of these small businesses become medium, and medium become large,” he said, adding: “The next startup that’s going to become a multibillion‑dollar company is going to start with one of these companies getting the loan, working with the private-sector mentorship, and eventually becoming a global brand.”
CONSORTIUM MODEL
The PSC Chairman also endorsed the government’s consortium financing model, which encourages groups of entrepreneurs to combine their facilities to undertake larger projects.
Under this structure, instead of a single entrepreneur accessing a $3 million facility on their own, 10 persons could pool their allocations into a $30 million venture, multiplying their reach and impact.
Gouveia said this approach is in line with his push for consortiums and clusters across key sectors, arguing that Guyanese firms cannot remain competitive if they insist on operating alone.
“We can’t do it alone. We need to find partners, both local and internationally, to develop a Guyanese brand,” he said, stressing: “There’s not enough capital. There’s not enough technology. There’s not enough manpower. So, we have to pool our resources.”
He added that the private sector has already begun forming clusters in housing, tourism and shipping, and that the development bank will allow similar collaboration “at the entrepreneurial level,” backed by technical support from business-support desks.
Against this backdrop, Gouveia’s message to aspiring entrepreneurs was that capital and coaching will now go hand in hand, with the private sector positioned to walk alongside them.
“We were preparing them to walk through any banking institution,” he said of small businesses, noting: “now the development bank just opens up another door that they can walk through.”