GMSA President pushes for glass refinery, other industries, partnerships with Jamaica

– urges private sector partnerships to tackle large-scale manufacturing

With a delegation from Jamaica visiting to scope out local opportunities, Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA) President Rafeek Khan is pushing for the private sector to form consortiums and establish glass refineries, as well as other industries.
During the course of the Jamaica Do Business Forum that was held in Guyana last week at the Guyana Marriott Hotel, scores of Jamaican businesses were in Guyana as part of the Jamaica Promotions Corporation’s (JAMPRO) fourth Business Mission to Guyana, to scope out opportunities for collaboration.
Khan, who is also the Managing Director of Durable Wood Products, encouraged this. In his presentation, he noted that there are numerous opportunities for Jamaicans to partner with Guyanese companies.
“Let’s talk about timber. It would be good for us to know your imports from countries for timber. I’m sure it is probably millions and millions of dollars importing prime lumber in Jamaica for your building and construction sector from the United States.”
“Could we get a piece of that action – but you can come into Guyana. Partner with some businesses who want to do manufacturing. Because we’re sending out our raw timber to most of the world,” Khan also said.
According to Khan, the respective Jamaican and Guyanese governments can play a role in facilitating this. However, he stressed that it is the private sector that must get the ball rolling. And the GMSA President cited another manufacturing opportunity.

“This is an excellent opportunity for the Jamaican and Guyanese governments to facilite. But we as businesses in the room, we’ve got to move the needle more to doing and producing and start selling to our CARICOM partners. In the extractive (sector) we have the silica sand. I don’t know if Jamaica has a high-quality sand. But we talk a lot about the demand for glass.”
“We’re importing all our glass bottles into Guyana. I believe we have a study already done, from the IDB and the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association. That is a huge refinery required. But look. Nothing is too large when you talk about consortiums,” he also said.
Khan noted that a glass refinery may cost between $70 million and $100 million. But according to Khan, a consortium can be formed that would construct the glass refinery. As it stands now, only a few countries, like the Dominican Republic and Trinidad and Tobago (T&T), have the capacity to produce glass.
The GMSA President also pointed out that Jamaica represents a number of beverage brands, including Coca-Cola and Pepsi, while still importing its glass. He therefore noted that it was a golden opportunity for collaboration between Guyana and Jamaica. Another advantage Guyana has will be the lowered energy costs when the Gas-to-Shore project comes onstream.
It is not the first time that JAMPRO has visited Guyana to explore opportunities. During its second mission to Guyana, in 2023, the 75-member delegation had over 250 business-to-business meetings with the Guyanese private sector, with several Jamaican companies securing export contracts, particularly in limestone aggregates and technology services.
In May of 2024, Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Aubyn Hill, led a 61-member delegation to Georgetown to scope out and explore investment opportunities. That business delegation spanned a mix of small and large companies across priority sectors, including manufacturing, agro-processing/agribusiness, mining, technology, and the services industry.
Senator Hill is also leading this year’s JAMPRO delegation, as Guyana and Jamaica continue to collaborate on various fronts, including trade, culture and regional integration. Among the areas floated for possible investment is the transport and logistics sector.
And while Guyana is well known for its gold, diamonds, timber and, in recent years, its oil resources, a lesser-known fact is that Guyana is sitting on $37.6 billion worth of silica sand resources – from which is derived the material to make cell phone and solar energy farm components.