Local businesses must also be allowed to develop

Dear Editor,
We, as a nation, must be careful as to how quickly we allow foreign businesses to expand within our borders. The primary risk being that our local business startups and developing businesses will be less competitive, given the early stages of the country’s development. Our business owners must be given the opportunity to raise their quality and service to meet and surpass international standards before we invite stronger competitors to enjoy the growth we are experiencing. Without such a cautious approach, local businesses would never reach their full potential during this growth period in our country’s history.
Having a few strong foreign companies present in each sector would allow local competitors to see what is expected by tourists, and it would also give our people the impetus to implement higher standards within their businesses. Starbucks is a great example of the local coffee shops.
We, as a nation, would also benefit from broadening our horizons by looking beyond the USA and also considering strong brands from Europe and Asia. During my travels around the world, Vietnamese coffee has always been heralded as one of the best-tasting coffees. Chinese tea houses are also world-renowned. No one would doubt the reputation of an English tea shop, or the peaceful experience of a Japanese tea garden. These are experiences that speak to both locals and foreigners. Our country is also known for the wide variety of fresh tea offerings, and their medicinal benefits. Our format of sales may be somewhat rustic in nature, but the quality of our products is among the best in the world. This growth period offers excellent opportunity to develop the presentation of our offering, and couple it with the peaceful nature of our environment.
Sipping a cup of tea while watching the diverse bird population that only the tropics can offer is an excellent peaceful experience that all can enjoy. Imagine the joy of a foreigner walking into a local tea garden and saying, “Ma’am, may I please have a cup of your organically grown lemon grass tea, sweetened with your world-renowned Demerara sugar, preferably the Enmore crystal, if available. Please also add a touch of your organic milk from your grass-fed cows?”. Then the hostess politely responds, “Of course you may have a cup, ma’am, it would be a pleasure to have you as a guest”.
We must remember that the objective of prosperity is to allow our citizens to not only make a better living, but to also have a more enjoyable and fulfilling life experience.
Many major hotel brands are also investing, but these hotels also had their humble beginnings. Our local hotel owners should also be allowed to reap the benefits of national growth. Creating more bed-and-breakfast locations would provide more business ownership opportunities for our citizens. The risk of allocating all of the growth in rooms/accommodations to strong foreign brands is that it may result in capping the growth of the local hotel business owners.
Foreigners do prefer what they are used to experiencing in their own homelands, but we must provide opportunity for them to also experience excellent Guyanese hospitality that both they and locals can afford to enjoy. If you speak with the man and woman in the street, I am sure they will tell you that they would prefer to own a business that meets and surpasses international standards, instead of working for one owned by someone from a different culture with different values.
This is the culture of our country, and we must continue to embrace it and enable it to flourish. Those whom we invite to partake in our growth must share the values of our nation, and also respect our way of life. Then we will be able to continue our growth trajectory without harming the culture of our country.

Best regards,
Jamil Changlee