President Ali rolls out plans to benefit athletes’ livelihoods

President Dr. Irfaan Ali, on Saturday morning, opened the door for a number of National sportsmen to develop their personal lives following a breakfast meeting with the lively group.
Amongst the moves the President has implemented to benefit the sportsmen was a Chicken Tunnel project that would see the athletes collaborating with the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI) and Agriculture Ministry, as well as specific connections with the Bank, geared at facilitating business and house loans.
During the meeting at Demico’s Main Street outlet, the Head- of- State detailed his vision and what he wants the athletes to achieve through the initiatives.
“That is why immediately after meeting ya’ll, less than an hour ago, I asked the Minister of Agriculture and I asked the CEO of GBTI to come and join us in this meeting because I want o break any barrier and I want to reduce the bureaucracy with what we want to achieve,” President Ali told the group.
He went on to state, “What I want you guys to achieve is greatness for yourself and your families. Once you achieve greatness for yourself and families, you will achieve greatness for the country. So, I want to be of help to create that opportunity, open that door.”
By Tuesday, the President intends to have the agricultural business plans drawn up that could see the athletes reaping some $20- $25M in revenue after pooling their resources.
Expressing an intention to replicate the project around the Country, President Ali explained why the investment is a beneficial one.
The Head of State explained to the athletes, “And the investment you’re looking at, I just want to show you, each of you might put $300,000. Immediately ya’ll will own a business, one tunnel house that is $50M but none of you could’ve invested in that alone. So, you wait your entire life, trying to find $50M on a tunnel house. The tunnel house is the most modern way of doing chicken.”
“The Ministry of Agriculture will provide the training for all 27 of you, how to manage the tunnel house. If each one of you sacrifice 5 hours one day in the month, you manage the tunnel house. Not taking away from your existing job, not taking away from whatever you’re doing and adding to the productivity of the country,” President Ali added.
On the other hand, GBTI CEO Shawn Gurcharran was on hand to immediately kick- start the President’s plan revealing that the initiative fits right in with an upcoming GBTI project.
Gurcharran enlightened the group, “This bodes well for a key project that we’re about to launch. This is a real good kickstart; we’re calling it GBTI Grow, where we target small, micro sized businesses and we work with them. One of the things that we’re hoping to do is establish a framework with the Ministry of Agriculture and I’m so excited to hear that the President is also initiating somebody else to help mentor you.”
“The objective is to really work with small, micro, medium- sized businesses on a couple of key areas in the country and number one is actually food security. So, this is really a well- timed initiative by the President and we look forward to working with you,” Gurcharran further stated.
Representatives from the Ministry of Housing and Water were also on hand on Saturday morning to assist a group of the sportsmen with their housing applications and allocation issues.
A majority of the athletes present on Saturday spanned the Football, Cricket and Rugby disciplines. (G6)