GUYANA Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA) has extended the closing date for submission of nominations for its annual exceptional achievements awards.

Submissions will be accepted up to Wednesday November 21 and the Association will hold its 17th annual Awards Presentation and Dinner on Thursday, November 29, in the Savannah Suite of Guyana Pegasus Hotel.
On that occasion, the medium, small and large scale enterprises that have made significant strides during the year will be recognised and tangibly rewarded.
The extension was to widen the field of applicants for the coveted awards, whose nominations should be sent to the GMSA’s Secretariat, Lot 157 Waterloo Street, Georgetown, by Wednesday, November 19.
The GMSA annual presentation is the longest running awards programme in Guyana and the regime includes:
* Attainment of International Standards Organisation (ISO), Hazard;
* Analysis and Control Points (HACCP) or other international standards
Certification;
* International Market Penetration;
* Initiation/acceleration of cross-border trade;
* Introduction of new and innovative technologies and methodologies in
Engineering and Construction and other fields of manufacturing;
* Breaking new ground in Maritime, Tourism, Fashion Designing and
other services and
* Implementation of Equal Opportunity Employment Practices.

Greatest impact
The GMSA’s Board will select the recipient of the Lifetime Award from a field of entrepreneurs whose work has made the greatest impact on business development and promotion over a prolonged period.
The executive will also identify the recipient of the President of Guyana’s Award for Export Achievement. The GMSA is the sole Business Support Organisation selected by the Office of the President to make this award to the most outstanding business enterprise.
Banks DIH was the 2010 recipient of the President’s Award and Nand Persaud Company Ltd., the Berbice-based producer and exporter of rice and its byproducts received the nod in 2011 for expanding its export market into South and Central America.
EMPRETEC Guyana, the local arm of the Switzerland-based business support organisation, is also expected to identify one Guyanese manufacturer or service provider for the EMPRETECO 2012 award.
Companies operating in the sectors of Forestry and Wood Products manufacturing, Agriculture and Agro-Processing, Minerals, Pharmaceuticals, Chemicals, Engineering and Construction are invited to submit, to the GMSA, the name and profile of the company or individual they deem most eligible to receive a GMSA’s 2012 award in any of the categories listed.