GUYEXPO IS A BIG LIME!

Oct 07, 2009 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

It is never kind to have to put down a local initiative, especially one that draws tens of thousands of Guyanese each day. However, it is important that those behind this grand event also accept criticisms of the event so this can help in improving both the concept of the event. GUYEXPO is a major event in Guyana but in the final analysis must be measured not only in terms of investment and business attracted.
If you have been to any one GUYEXPO you have been to all. There is not much of a difference in this exhibition, which with each passing year becomes a mere imitation of previous years.
GUYEXPO in fact as a national exhibition intended to promote trade and investment is an embarrassment. The range of products on display does not differ much; there may be each year new exhibitors but in total what we have is the same limited range of products being recycled each year.
This year we have had an amazing addition. There is a stall devoted to selling products made exclusively in India. But when you buy from this store you are supporting a Guyanese business and not just the manufacturer from India.
When one considers that this is Guyana’s premier trade fair, it really is disappointing. Imagine taking a foreign visitor to that exhibition and trying to impress that person about what Guyana is capable of producing.
One person did this and the foreigner asked whether this was what was creating all this excitement. The person said that all he saw at the exhibition could be easier seen by simply taking a walk along Regent and Water Streets.
The booths also came in for some criticism. Exhibitors need to be far more creative in displaying their products. There is need for greater imagination in the design of booths so that a tour of the exhibition site becomes an experience that would be memorable for all.
One man said yesterday that he was going to the Main Big Lime. When reminded that the Main Big Lime was in December, he answered that GUYEXPO was a Big Lime and therefore he reserved the right to deem it The Main Big Lime Part 1.
When you think about it, quite a lot of persons are going to GUYEXPO for its entertainment value. It is a+ place where a great many people will congregate, there are booths to look at, drinks, food and stage shows.
Many are going there to hang out and enjoy the atmosphere.
Even the President who declared open the exhibition last Thursday, decided over the weekend to pay another visit and poor fellow, his convoy was involved in an accident.
During the opening ceremony there were great speeches about attracting investment. But where is this investment? How come such a great picture is being painted about investment in Guyana and yet the government was forced to do something that it has never done in the past: invest in a private business with a hotel? The Casique Hotel behind the former Buddy’s International Hotel is now a joint venture between the government and the original investors.
One wonders if the investment climate was so attractive why could no private investor be found to build the hotel, especially since our President had indicated at the recent ceremony at the Ogle airport that Guyana needed another major hotel?
We were told at the opening of GUYEXPO about some survey, which was commissioned by the private sector, which found that there were no major effects on business as a result of the global financial crisis.
This in fact says a lot about the state of our economy which still today remains dependent on the production and export of primary commodities. Surely, if we were a major exporter of manufacturing products or financial services, the results of that survey would have been different.
This is not to give any credibility to the survey. We all know that one major manufacturer and a company which had won awards for excellence and quality, was forced to downsize its operations and lay off its staff as a result of the crisis.
There are also many businessmen in Guyana who had sums invested in CLICO.
Will GUYEXPO help the local economy? One can also question the net result of GUYEXPO. Where are the new markets that are being created? Where are the billions of dollars that are supposed to be pouring in as a result of GUYEXPO?
At the end of this exhibition one hopes that the organizers would do an assessment of just how much new business came the way of the exhibitors. Perhaps the private sector can do its own assessment and thus demolish the argument that GUYEXPO is really just one Big Lime.

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GUYEXPO IS A BIG LIME!

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