Hold public, private sector to higher standards – fmr GCCI President

…urges citizens to be more proactive in demanding better

With more companies coming to Guyana’s shores than ever before, a former Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry president is urging Guyanese to demand better from local companies and the public sector.
This call was made by Vishnu Doerga, as he delivered the keynote address at the launch of construction company Emporium Investments Bureau on Friday.
Doerga reminded the gathering that the citizens pay the salaries of public sector

employees through taxes, and he stressed that the best service possible should be demanded from the public sector.
The business executive also noted that Guyanese have an obligation to hold local private sector companies accountable. According to Doerga, this will play a key role in the private sector raising its overall standards and getting its proverbial share of the pie from oil.
“I looked at your core values, and I thought (that) if I was to choose core values for a company I have to operate with and deal with, these might have been some. So I noticed that you had listed integrity. It means when you say something you must mean it. So everything you have said today we expect you to also do. And I would like this message to resonate across Guyana,” he said.
“When we say something to our customers, when we market, we have to be able to deliver on it, because that is the measure by which your customers will hold you by. Every time you barely satisfy your customer, nobody talks about that. They talk

about when they didn’t get what they need. It goes in the newspapers, it goes on Facebook; that becomes your permanent record,” Doerga said.
And according to Doerga, customers should, by right, talk about the poor service they receive through the mediums available to them. He pointed to the possibility that while some companies are under the impression their service is competitive, the reality might be different, and they do not even know.
Emporium Investments Bureau, incorporated locally in 2016, is located on Sendall Place in Brickdam. Among its services are building construction, civil engineering, and logistics. Director of Operations, Sean Thompson, who is of Jamaican descent, spoke of Emporium’s track record of speedily completing projects.
According to Thompson, customers can be assured that their building constructions will easily outlive the customers themselves. In particular, he espoused the fire-resistant qualities of the company’s building blocks.
“Clients should also know this is a green product. A non-toxic, mineral-based agent is used in the mixture, which produces the fire resistance in the concrete blocks….some of the benefits our home owners will enjoy with us.
“It’s non-toxic, it’s environmentally friendly, and it’s fire-resistant. It’s thermal and acoustic-insulated, mould and mildew-resistant, and these are some of the benefits you would get when you build with Emporium, using our new products,” Thompson detailed.
Keene Mitchell, in charge of the company’s electrical installations, noted that there are very few, if any, companies that would provide a 20-year warranty on their construction projects.
He also stressed that Emporium, through its solar-powered systems, offers viable alternatives to traditional power generation.