GCCI Head charges members to form more partnerships

– Laparkan looks to capitalise on oil & gas opportunities

President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), Kester Hutson has spurred on the organisation’s membership to look for more opportunities to form partnerships, taking into consideration the developmental trajectory of the country.
He challenged the membership during an event on Monday hosted by shipping company Laparkan and its partner, technology company Canon.
Noting that the GCCI’s membership stands at over 800, he went on to urge his membership to seek out such partnerships, which will help them grow their capacity and be better able to compete.
“I want to use this opportunity to encourage you to look at collaboration now. Now the chamber has, again, 800-plus companies. Quite a few are tech companies, that you can certainly partner with to build out that enterprise of the Canon services. The imaging services that they offer,” Hutson said.
“Now, you also have the membership that you can have a product in every office of the enterprise of the membership. So, it’s very important that we look at collaboration. We look at how we’re going to include, from the top to the bottom type companies, to build out resources and capacity and build out Guyana in a significant and sustainable way.”

Meanwhile, Laparkan Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Hussein “Butch” Haniff spoke of how his company has grown over the years. Now, Laparkan has locations in nine countries. He also gave projections for the company while admitting that Laparkan is catching up to the opportunities that come with oil and gas, but he was optimistic that they can reach their target.
“We’ve taken the steps to go ahead and get our ISO certification. We’ve done it in anticipation of what is going to happen in Suriname. We’ve started that process. We’re there. We’ve got a lot of employees there also. We’ve got an office over there,” Haniff said.
“And we’re setting ourselves up to capitalise on the future of oil and gas in Guyana. And all the supporting industries that are gonna come up. We only see Guyana as pretty much the next horizon for not only Laparkan, but a lot of international companies coming to Guyana to find their way. Hopefully, we can do that and support that process.”
Laparkan Technology Expo which featured Canon Innovation & Imaging Solutions products and technologies, was held at the Pegasus Conference Centre. The occasion also marked the company’s 40th anniversary.
Other officials present at the opening ceremony included the Senior Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance, Dr Ashni Singh, Minister of Labour Joseph Hamilton, and President of Canon Mexicana, Mikio Tagaki.
With a projected growth rate of 37.2 per cent for 2023, Guyana is expected to continue its trend this year of outpacing every other Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) country when it comes to economic growth. Additionally, the nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has almost tripled in the space of two years, moving from $1.1 trillion in 2020 to $3.1 trillion at the end of 2022.
Guyana has also recorded the highest Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows in the Caribbean, with President Dr Irfaan Ali boasting last month that this was indicative of investors’ confidence in the country and its leadership.
The United Nations’ Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) “Foreign Direct Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean” 2023 report stated that Guyana recorded FDI inflows for 2022 totalling US$4.389 billion.
“FDI is an important indicator of the confidence that investors have in the country. So, we are not only the leading destination for FDI, it tells a lot about the confidence which the sophisticated and international investor has in the country, the leadership, the direction in which the country is going,” Ali had told reporters.