Essequibo Coast businessman Ganesh Jaigobin, who already has a hotel in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), on Friday opened a brand-new location in the township of Anna Regina.
President Dr Irfaan Ali assisting in cutting the ribbon to open the state-of-the-art hotel
The five-storey Jaigobin Hotel, an investment totalling some $200M, boasts 35 rooms and a large conference hall overlooking the mighty Essequibo River, besides a bar and lounge and a spacious lobby. It is considered a high-end establishment with modern amenities that would offer quality services.
The hotel is owned by businessman Ganesh Jaigobin and his family – his wife Indy Jaigobin and his two children, Gavinash and Kureshma Jaigobin.
President Dr Irfaan Ali and other Cabinet members today attended the opening of the hotel. Speaking at the opening ceremony, Ganesh Jaigobin detailed how his business ventures started. He said the G&P Jaigobin and Son business was established on August 4, 1996. At the time, he was employed with Amazon Chemical Limited as a sales manager, and his wife managed their small business, which involved the distribution of groceries and beverages.
President Ali being given a tour of the facility
A few years later, they expanded their small business into a retail outlet at Suddie, and this was eventually converted into a supermarket. Businessman Jaigobin added that because their business was doing exceedingly well, it allowed him to resign from his full-time job at Amazon Chemicals.
In 2008, Mr and Mrs Jaigobin decided to further expand their business, and another branch was opened in the township of Anna Regina. This is now the most prominent supermarket in Anna Regina, making “Jaigobin” a household name in the county.
One of the dining areas in the hotel
“We realised (that) to survive in business…it is necessary to diversify… My grandparents usually say, ‘Don’t put all your eggs in one basket’,” the businessman explained.
He further noted that a careful survey was done, and his family saw the need for a compatible hotel in Region Two. In 2016, they established their first hotel at Cotton Field, and that eventually became inadequate for the accommodation demand in Essequibo.
He noted that with the discovery of oil in Guyana, he realised that the country was about to head down a path of major economic transformation. With this in mind, his family commenced the construction of the five-storey hotel in 2019.
President Ali, during his feature address, thanked the Jaigobin family for providing new direct employment to 15 people, totalling 72 persons now in their employ.
“These are the heroes in small and medium-size communities… On behalf of the Government of Guyana, I thank the family for their confidence, commitment, and courage for opening such initiative…the region that provides better services to the people of Guyana,” President Ali said.
Tourism Minister Oneidge Walrond lauded the initiative and noted that it would significantly boost the regional tourism industry.
“This hotel will be a base for tourists. So, I am urging my fellow business colleagues in the Private Sector to further invest and boost tourism in the region. We have an integrative and collaborative support to expand tourism, and we will work to develop the tourism sector in the region,” she said.
