Guyana Shop aims to promote local products overseas

Aug 14, 2017 News

The Guyana Shop which operates out of the Guyana Marketing Corporation (GMC) building on Robb and Alexander Street, Georgetown is looking to promote local products in the regional and international markets.
The Guyana Shop’s mandate is to promote local products and sensitise the public on local products. This is done in many stages, including through street fairs or taking part in international trade fairs.
Manager of the Guyana Shop, Kevin Macklingam said that all the advertising done for the local agro-processors is free. “We don’t charge them because that is part of our job.”
He said that the Guyana Shop is the only place where such a large volume of local products can be found. Macklingam explained that at GMC, greater focus is placed on non-traditional products.
“The traditional is rice and sugar. Anything besides rice and sugar, we are there; be it plantain chips, tamarind balls, pepper sauce or seasoning.” He said that the shop also sells a variety of medicinal products predominantly sourced from Indigenous groups. These include ointments such as crabwood oil.

Porridge Mix, Smart Baby Porridge Mix, Cassava Flour and Plantain Flour produced by the Guyana School of Agriculture

He added that some persons would produce hair care products and facial products such as soaps, while others would produce herbal teas. He explained that the Guyana Shop has nine other locations across Guyana.
He said that these locations are described as ‘Guyana Shop Corners’. “We have partnered with other supermarkets around the different regions and we try to encourage them as well. They have come on the bandwagon to help us to promote local products in their region.”
The Manager said that the Guyana Shop has a presence in six regions, but the intention is to have a presence or a voice in every region. For the remainder of 2017, focus will be placed on Regions one and nine.
“So by 2020 we’re supposed to be out of Guyana and into the Caribbean, and then we proceed into the North American area.”
As it relates to the items currently being sold at the Guyana Shop, Macklingam said that although products may come from the different regions, they are all required to have one standard.

The Guyana Shop is located on the ground floor of the GMC building

“That is, they have to be certified by the Food and Drugs (Department) and if they have business registration, that has to be up to date; also food handlers certificate. Food and Drugs would look at the labelling and packaging. We have a business agro development officer who also assists in packaging and labelling. So if they don’t want to go to Food and Drugs, they can come to us, we can help them source the bottles, the labels, assist them when formatting the labels and getting the nutritional values for each product, that is free right now.”
Macklingam explained that although the assistance is being given free of cost, in the future, there may be a fee attached. However, he said that for now, the Guyana Shop has the requisite computer software to assist the agro-processors.
He said that aside from this kind of assistance, the Guyana Shop tries to urge agro-processors to participate in trade fairs. Some recently took part in a fair in Canada through a partnership with the Ministry of Business and Tourism.
According to Macklingam, customers are still coming to grips with whether the products are manufactured locally. He said that based on the Shop being in close proximity to Bourda Market, it helps to stabilise the prices of certain commodities.
“We set a standard price so that in the market or around the area, they cannot set a steep mark-up. Because we have a minimal market but ours is not to make profit per se, but we also try to encourage the private supermarkets to buy the local products…because previously we would have found when you go into a supermarket you’ll see a few local products that are way down at the back and tucked into a corner that nobody is aware that these things are local.”
However, he said that efforts are being made to change that trend so that Guyanese can be aware that the country has its own versions of some imported products that are better with competitive prices.