Manufacturing Association helping members tap into Guyana Development Bank

President of the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA), Rafeek Khan has said that for many small manufacturers, securing financing is only one part of the challenge because businesses must be equipped to use it effectively. With the newly-established Guyana Development Bank aiming to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), GMSA is doing the work to ensure that its members are able to benefit from the jump. Khan said the association is focused on ensuring small and medium-sized enterprises are not only able to access financing, but also have the capacity to expand, compete and eventually export. “We want to position ourselves towards the end of the year that we can say, here are some tangible results that we have moved the needle in helping and facilitating smaller businesses to accessing finance, because finance is a hindrance,” Khan said. Khan said that while Guyana’s expanding construction sector presents significant opportunities for manufacturers, long-term success will depend on producing goods that can compete regionally. “We can complain all we want, but any business that is making a value-added product must have an eye on our export market, especially the Caribbean. We have so many things we produce that the Caribbean doesn’t produce,” Khan said. He added that by helping businesses become investment-ready and export-ready before they seek financing, the association hopes to ensure they are better positioned to grow, create jobs and contribute to Guyana’s manufacturing sector. For the GMSA, the work extends beyond financing and instead focuses on mentoring programmes, business coaching and an accelerator programme supported by the European Union. Through these, the association is helping businesses strengthen their operations before seeking capital. The GMSA is also engaging both local banks and international financial institutions to create pathways for companies that are ready to scale. “We’re actually talking to IDB (Inter-American Development Bank) to see how we can get larger funds. When those smaller companies need to accelerate themselves and even form clusters and come together as a consortium, they need at least US$5 million capital,” Khan said. At the same time, manufacturers are sharing their expertise with smaller businesses, helping them improve their operations and prepare to access export markets. “We’re also at the GMSA helping to empower and position companies, enabling companies, coaching them through our bigger businesses… in how they can get access to export markets,” Khan said.