Latest update February 1st, 2025 4:56 AM
Re-migrant returns to follow father’s seafood passion…
“Straight from the sea to your plate” – Global Seafood Distributors
By Rabindra Rooplall
With a passion for motivating people to operate to their fullest potential, Allison Butters-Grant is a re-migrant who has returned to Guyana to recommence the path left by her father who laid the foundation for her passion to operate within the fishing industry. She is now a woman heading a fish-processing plant in Ruimveldt Industrial Site.
After living in the United States for 29 years it was not easy convincing her husband to settle on Guyana’s shores to invest, own, operate and supply the needs of consumers through a growing fish industry.
Seafood being packed for shipment at Global Seafood Distributors, Ruimveldt Industrial Site.
Having migrated to the US in 1986 for college, the mother of two said, “Now that both of my daughters are college graduates and holding their own jobs it has given me the opportunity to do what I enjoy best in the fishing industry.
“Given my experience and travels of seeing various products in the seafood industry I took the challenge to venture into the business my father left off.”
Allison’s passion for being an entrepreneur and being active in the community comes from her late parents Leslie and Alma Butters who were into trawling, gold mining and farming industries in Guyana and were great philanthropists leaving a great legacy for her to be proud of and one to follow.
“Standard is the hallmark of my business and whatever I process to be sold, I use. My main aim is to give consumers a proper product with a wide array of choices.”
The processing unit, Global Seafood Distributors, became operational last September. It has 15 employees whom maintain the production line of all local fishes. This is set to eventually expand when the need arises within the market.
She pointed out that when she first started the business, she knew that it would have worked once she applied a positive outlook and with that in mind, she hired people from the neighbourhood including women, who have never had experience in fish-processing and they learned and have stayed on so far. Our staff works as a team with great leadership.
“We have people with CXC subjects asking for the opportunity to clean fish because they need a job but we can’t hire everybody because we have a cap of 15 staff presently.”
Soca sensation Jumo Primo and Allison Butters-Grant endorsing the Spicy and Hot Soca Banga Mary which is loved by consumers.
At present, Butters-Grant said that supplies of fresh seasoned and unseasoned fish that is packaged are available at several local supermarkets including Nigel’s, Real Value Supermarket and Rossignol Butchery under the label branded “Butters & Grant”.
She explained that from the sea their fish are ready for the plate since it’s also packaged for export to mainly the United States of America.
With catch phrases like “Agro-processing is the new sexy people need to eat” and “Straight from the sea to your plate” , the businesswoman said Global Seafood Distributors is registered with the relevant agencies and has had the necessary safety measures implemented with operations such as processing, drying, packaging and storing taking place under one roof.
With a Business Administration degree under her belt with many political and non-political capacities previously held, the industrious Butters-Grant acknowledges that she is the only female who is heading such an organization since other agencies involved in processing plants and fisheries business are headed by males.
However, she noted that deals with the administrative and procurement aspects of the business, while her husband handles the operations of the plant.
Acknowledging that she had tried her hand in other businesses but did not feel that she was operating at her peak, she said there are many niche industries within Guyana for women who are willing to take steps to explore and develop their passion.
Underscoring that new and innovative steps are being made to enhance the business and to have newer products to satisfy the needs of their customers, both local and overseas, the entrepreneur said products such as “Cheesy Trout made from Mozzarella cheese, garlic trout, spicy and hot Soca Banga Mary amongst many other new options for people diverse in their eating” is available.
“Guyana’s seafood is wild caught and should be sold as organic because our seafood are coming from waters that are not polluted with much industrial waste, chemical plants and toxins within the ocean. Our fish is better than any that is farm raised in any part of the world,” Butters-Grant emphasized.
“I usually tell people overseas that our fish is organic and should be sold organic.”
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
A wave of criminal deportees may be coming our way soon
Peeping Tom… Kaieteur News-It is peculiar the way the PPP/C government often finds itself staring down the barrel of... more
OAS Secretary General Election and renewed OAS Consensus
Antiguan Barbudan Ambassador to the United States, Sir Ronald Sanders By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News- The upcoming election... more
Weekend Cartoon
