‘Now is the time for manufacturing to grow’-says outgoing GMSA President
---calls for greater mentorship of small business owners
By Sharda Bacchus
As he encouraged owners of companies to think big, outgoing President of the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA), Rafeek Khan is urging the future leadership of the association to foster greater mentorship of small business owners.
“Now is the time for manufacturing to grow…We need to see industries in Guyana. Industries is all about manufacturing. With manufacturing you are going to see greater employment, higher earnings, increase Gross Domestic Product (GDP),” Khan said.
He was at the time delivering the President’s address at the GMSA’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) which was held on Friday at the Pegasus Hotel, Georgetown.
According to Khan, “now is the time” to boost secondary sector of the economy.
“We need be growing, we need to be supplying volumes to the shelf, we need to be supplying volume to our export market. As you think, think big, think large, think manufacturing, think industry development and think collaboration, think partnership,” Khan told the gathering, which included the GMSA membership.
As such, the outgoing President charged the future leadership of the GMSA to cater for the small businesses.
“I would like to see mentorship, greater mentorship to small businesses from big businesses or from medium size businesses. Giving of your money is easy but giving of your time is harder.
“I want to see companies giving your time, helping, adopting small businesses, coaching them alone, taking them on a path of success to see how they are going to achieve and get to your heights,” Khan noted.
But generally, he said he would also like to see greater Corporate Social Responsibility (CSRs) from all companies.
He further encouraged companies to think beyond.
“Each of your businesses…We are not competing with each other. Sometimes we lose focus on the greater market, export market, even our domestic market. The market share is so huge many times we miss our priorities, we mis our focus by trying to compete with each other,” Khan advised.
He added, “We need to compete with the world. We need to go beyond and support our businesses to grow.”
Khan highlighted that when he took up the tenure two years ago, seven pivotal, important needs of GMSA were identified, each of which were achieved with “excellence.”
They included capacity building within the secretariat, membership growth and representation, increased government collaboration, financial support and more visibility.
And over the two years, he disclosed that the GMSA membership grew by 75% while their income increased by 278%.
And, this year, the manufacturing is projected to grow by 5.7 per cent while it is forecasted that the services sector will expand by a further 5.6 per cent.
Khan was elected President of the GMSA in March 2021. A new president and members of the Board of Directors members are expected to be named soon.
