Access to finance, opportunities in oil & non-oil sectors to be addressed at upcoming business forum

…to feature 500 delegates
The Business Development Forum will be making its return next month, with the two-day event organised by the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) scheduled to be held from November 11 to 12 at the Pegasus Corporate Centre.

This was explained at a press conference hosted by GCCI President Timothy Tucker on Tuesday. The forum, first held in 2018, was halted in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This will therefore be the first time it is being held in two years.
“This event has always been created and continued based on the demand and response of the business community. This event was created within the Chamber. And it was a direct response to the need of its members. Unlike other events, we’re not just doing this as a talk shop,” Tucker said.
“We’re interacting, bringing different levels of institutions. We’re talking about role models. And we’re also surveying and dealing with what is needed by the community. The feedback that we’ve gotten, there are many persons who have benefitted tremendously and gotten results from the two previous business development forums.”

Finance/opportunities
Meanwhile, GCCI Executive Director Richard Rambarran explained that the forum will be split into five thematic areas, each of which will have a specialist make presentations. The themes that will be explored are access to finance; opportunities for businesses in the Guyana’s oil and non-oil sectors; improving standards and quality; doing business in Guyana and marketing fundamentals.
“What the business development forum is intended to achieve, however, is to bridge the gaps as it relates to information, as it relates to knowledge and as it relates to the capacity of private sector firms. We’ve realised that there was no single platform in which an enterprise could go and obtain the information that would help them to bridge capacity gaps in their business.”
“We’ve crafted an agenda that essentially addresses, based on our research, the issues that plague the private sector and the internal dynamics of the firms. There are five thematic areas that will be explored at the forum. The structure of it is that each of the five thematic areas will have a keynote address being done by a leader in the field,” Rambarran said.
Among those who have been invited to make presentations at the forum are the Bankers Association and individual banks. In addition to the 500 delegates expected to attend, GCCI is also catering for approximately 1000 visitors to the joint exhibition. Oil giant ExxonMobil, through its subsidiary Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL) has meanwhile come on board as the main event partner.
The Business Development Forum (BDF) was conceptualised in 2018 as an annual two-day business forum to provide a platform for the wider business community to have conversations and network, regardless of the size of their businesses. (G3)