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Standardization crucial to int’l market success
As Guyana seeks to find new ways for its products to break into international markets, a local businesswoman has opined that better international standardization practices are needed to truly put Guyana on the map.
CEO and owner of Global Seafood Distributors Allison Butters-Grant
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and owner of Global Seafood Distributors Allison Butters-Grant made the observation during a recent interview with this newspaper. Butters-Grant is a Guyanese remigrant who lived nearly 30 years in the United States. She graduated from a US university with a Degree in Business Administration and Accounting.
According to the businesswoman, Guyana is chockfull of opportunities that are not being fully utilized.
“There are lots of opportunities for our products in Guyana to go to the world, marketing those products and packaging those products are important to the people who produce them,” Butters-Grant said.
She added, “One of the things I’ve realized here in Guyana is that we have all of the natural resources; what we don’t have is the standard that would fit into the outer world.”
She noted that a product such as cassava leaves is in high demand in the United States. However, she said, this product is not going from Guyana, but rather from the Dominican Republic though Guyana has the potential to market it.
She said, too, that this is the case with the popular plantain chips that are sold throughout Guyana.
She explained that she recently spoke at a forum with a number of women, and shared the importance and benefits of rebranding known products such as the packaged plantain chips.
Butters-Grant said that oftentimes the product is simply provided in a plain package with nothing to truly set it apart. Further, she said, sellers can demand higher prices if their products reach new standards.
“If you just went out there and got a label, the $100 goes up to $150. It’s everybody selling the plantain chip for $100 and nobody’s different,” she said.
Butters-Grant’s business has been in existence since September. She said that she exports to the US and Jamaica and supplies seafood to the local market. She is able to reap extra benefits due to her products’ compliance with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
“It’s important that we package our products with the FDA standards, and maybe there should be a unit here for standardization for products from Guyana to reach the United States market,” she opined.
She went on, “For instance, our seafood has to be passed by the FDA in order for it to reach the tables of the consumers in the United States.”
She emphasised that with no proper marketing and rebranding, stagnation would occur.
“We have to work a whole lot on our value added products so that we can be marketable to the world. Guyana should be the bread basket of the Caribbean. We have the resources: we have the land and we have the water,” she said.
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