60 businesses benefit from networking opportunities during GCCI’s Small Business Expo

By Pooja Rambaran

As the curtains came down on the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (GCCI) National Small Business Week on Saturday, the final event – a Small Business Expo – saw some 60 businesses being given the opportunity to market and sell their products to a wider customer base.
Under the theme, “Strategic Collaboration for Success,” GCCI’s second annual Small Business Week aimed to elevate micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) within the organisation’s membership, with an overall call for increased inter-business collaboration.

Done in partnership with the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GTT) and the Tourism, Industry, and Commerce Ministry, the week of activities included a number of networking events and seminars to boost partnership opportunities and knowledge exchange.
However, the expo, a culmination of the week’s events, displayed a range of services, from food and beverages to jewellery and skincare. Guyana Times visited the expo, and spoke with several young, thriving exhibitors who were eager to showcase their product.

Ojay Skin
Born during the COVID-19 pandemic, Ojay Skin provides handmade soaps, body butters and body scrubs that aid in solving common skincare issues such as acne, uneven skin tone, hyperpigmentation and stretch marks.
Having battled with her own skincare issues, Ojay Skin founder Odela Joseph took several online classes and slowly perfected the craft of creating these handmade products to better serve Guyanese with similar struggles.
Now, as a first-time GCCI business expo participant, she noted her intention to use the opportunity to network and find stakeholders to work with to upgrade her business model.
“I’m here more to network than to sell. I want to get in touch with other people that can basically help me grow my business – accounting firms that cater to small businesses to do our accounting so that it takes something off my hand; local suppliers of raw materials that I can use rather than importing materials because it’s a big cost to import them,” Joseph said.

Teen Hustle
Recognised for being the most outstanding student in Science for the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) last year, 18-year-old Sheridan Dyal created a jewellery store, Teen Hustle, a way to maintain financial independence.
“Although I am a science student, I still have a business and I feel like my business empowers me. I also encourage a lot of other people, not just teenagers and young adults [but] even older folks to always have a side hustle,” Dyal said.

Having only created her business in December, the Queen’s College student found the experience at the expo and other GCCI events rewarding.
[At Saturday’s seminar], I gained a lot of incentives, for example, concessions and so forth with Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) and National Insurance Scheme (NIS),” Dyal said.
“I also feel that the expo has given me a lot of exposure to a lot of business people who are just like me and I feel as though I’m being mentored by them,” she added.

Propa Local Wines
Buxton-based Abigale John had been understudying her uncle, the founder of GT Wines, for several years before she decided to take the leap and create her own local wine business, Propa Local Wines, in 2023.
“Many people in the diaspora long for fruits that they don’t get. And we are happy to announce that we have this here in a bottle of wine. We are preserving the Guyanese heritage in a bottle of wine,” John said.

John noted that she saw the GCCI expo as an opportunity to market her product, with an eventual goal of having Propa Local Wines serving as the premier wine choice at all local events that the Government and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) host.

The Crafty Berbicians
Originating from Idaho, United States (US), Stephanie Ross and her husband moved to Guyana some ten years ago, finding a home in Berbice.
During Saturday’s expo, Ross displayed their handmade gold-filled and sterling silver jewellery, featuring local seeds created within their jewellery store, The Crafty Berbicians.
“I wanted to bring back something to my family outside [of the country] that was something specifically from Guyana. I had already brought them pepper sauce, achar and everything else,” Ross said.
“When I saw these seeds, I thought they were so beautiful and I wanted to make jewellery out of them. So, it just started as gifts for friends and family and then blossomed into a business,” she explained.
Ross’s seed jewellery makes use of canna lily seeds, Job’s tears seeds, tamarind seeds and circassian seeds.
“It’s nice to get to see other small businesses. Even from a customer standpoint, I like to shop, I like to support local so it’s a nice opportunity for that as well,” Ross said of her experience at the expo.