AIMING to build the capacity of local entrepreneurs within the forestry sector, the Centre for Local Business Development, with funding from the European Union (EU) alongside implementing agency Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), launched the Guyana Wood-Based SME Accelerator Programme in 2025.
The programme, which involved business acceleration support, including tailored training, one-on-one business advisory, mentorship, industry-compliance support, and a supportive environment for forestry-based entrepreneurs, on Monday graduated 23 participants at the Guyana Marriott, Kingston, Georgetown.
In his feature address, the EU Ambassador to Guyana Luca Pierantoni underscored the vital importance of such a programme in Guyana. The Guyana Wood-Based SME Accelerator Programme targets local small and medium-sized businesses in Guyana’s forestry sector, with the aim of building the compliance level, business and leadership skills of wood-based entrepreneurs and access to financing.
While noting that the journey must continue as we sustainably develop the sector, Pierantoni stated that the programme was about more than simply training participants. It focused on creating business plans and financial models, as well as the real entrepreneurs, workers and communities, he emphasised.
“It is about people using their skills, ideas and determination to build stronger businesses and create new opportunities,” Pierantoni said.
It was mentioned that a matching-grant facility will open for applications in October, while seven Guyanese enterprises will travel to Belgium in November as part of an EU Forestry Trade Mission to explore opportunities with European buyers, investors and business partners.
Commissioner of the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) Edward Goberdhan, commended the EU for its continued support over the years through the Forest Partnership Programme, calling it one of the biggest tools in the local forestry sector.
He underscored that this programme comes at a “very important juncture in the forestry sector,” as efforts continue to try and promote value-added and secondary processing.
“Because over the years we have done extremely well at the primary level in terms of extraction, the management of the forest sector in terms of the wood-tracking system; We have a very unique wood-tracking system where we can track the produce from the stump to the point of export, and currently, we are engaging also with the support of the EU…a digital wood-tracking system where we can have electronic tracking of the entire chain. Electronic permitting, electronic production, tag management, etc,” he said.
The commissioner noted that in terms of sustainable management, the GFC has done a great deal at the harvesting level.
According to Goberdhan, “Over the last five years, we have been promoting on the value-added segment in terms of quality and we have developed a code of practice for processing, and also to try to improve recovery and quality of products, because over the years, there has been a gradual shift from using wood-based products to concrete and other materials and we have seen a lot of fine products coming into the country.”
Over a nine-month period, 23 entrepreneurs balanced the demand of running their businesses with intensive coaching, training and mentorship, which included 640 hours of coaching across 22 structured sessions.
The first cohort produced 23 business plans, 23 investor pitches and 20 grant proposals. The real achievement, according to the centre, is in the business they operate.
The centre said the Government of Guyana has been creating an enabling environment for the wood sector to move towards greater value distribution. The centre worked directly with the enterprises to strengthen their businesses, capabilities and readiness for growth.
