Caribbean’s 1st Business Centre for Persons with Disabilities opens in Guyana

…$130M facility to employ 120 persons…$130M facility to employ 120 persons

First Lady Arya Ali on Wednesday commissioned a Business Centre for Persons Living with Disabilities (PLWD) at Palmyra, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne).
The $130 million state-of-the-art Business Centre for Equity, Opportunity and Innovation is housed in the Empower Guyana Building.
The initiative for the business centre came from First Lady Arya Ali. it will facilitate the manufacturing of products and offer retail space, technical training, and therapy for persons living with disabilities.
The centre will have five workstations for production, a boardroom, a therapy room, a cafeteria, and washroom facilities. The commercial space’s goal is to provide people with disabilities (PWDs) with a platform to market the goods they produce. The centre will facilitate the manufacturing of products and offer retail space, technical training, and therapy for persons living with disabilities.
According to the First Lady, the center will directly employ 120 persons with disabilities, providing not just jobs, but dignity, purpose, and a chance to contribute to the nation’s development in real, visible ways.

She said that the center will also serve entrepreneurs with disabilities who make local products. “…you will see things like local snacks and paintings and several other products in the retail space, all of which are made by persons with disabilities. The Center also features five specialised workstations designed to reflect the creativity and capability of those who will be employed here.”
The first workstation will offer web services such as online marketing and tech repairs for small electronics, while the second workstation will allow for the creation of arts, crafts, and souvenirs. The third station will focus on garment construction and screen printing, and the fourth will provide catering and commercial food preparation services. The fifth station will serve as a general-purpose station.
The First Lady pointed out that products made at the center will be displayed in the retail space, along with those products directly supplied by other entrepreneurs with disabilities. The Center is also outfitted with a therapy room for wellness and mental health, a cafeteria to build community and camaraderie, an administrative office to support daily operations, and a training room.
We believe that leadership and innovation must come from within these walls, not just from outside of them.”
There is also a shade house, which will be managed by those employed at the center.
Additionally, the center will provide continuous skills and business development training not only to those who will be employed there, but to persons with disabilities across the country.
“This is not charity. This is what inclusive development looks like, and we support the policies and those actions. This is the kind of progress that your government, the People’s Progressive Party Civic Government, is committed to developing throughout Guyana. Our President, Dr Mohamed Irfan Ali, and by extension, the government, have made it clear that development must include every citizen. That we must not just build roads and bridges, but also open pathways of opportunity for those who didn’t previously have access,” the First Lady said while noting that it is a commitment which the government is very serious about.
“This Center is an embodiment of that promise.”
The First Lady took time out to thank the Chinese Embassy for their assistance with the project. The centre for PWD is the first of its kind in the Caribbean region.
According to the First Lady, it is the first of the others to be established across the country.
“I want to say to those who live with disabilities, you are not a burden, you are a builder. You are not a cost, you are a contributor. You are not an afterthought. You are a forebearer of what is possible. This is your space, your time, and your right. This building is not just made of glass, stone, and concrete. It is built with hope, with purpose, with courage, and with vision,” the First Lady reassured.
“This Business Centre is a living proof that we mean what we say. We are not building a country for some, we are building a country for all,” she added.