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Female entrepreneur is visionary behind Guyana’s first bicycle tours/rental service
CEO Ride Along. GY Bicycle Tours and Rentals, Cherry-Ann Greene on a recent excursion tour to Kaieteur Falls.
By Rehanna Ramsay
Last year, Cherry-Ann Greene was sitting at home, working on a plan to introduce the first bicycle tours/rental business in Guyana. Today, she is planning for the launch of the business she calls her baby, given that it took exactly nine months to bring to fruition once she started working towards it.
Ride Along GY Bicycle Tours and Rentals will premiere its service on Saturday, May 1, 2021. The 36-year-old entrepreneur told Kaieteur News that the idea for the bicycles tours/rental “first popped into my head about eight years ago, while on a visit to Suriname.”
Greene explained that “the concept came as a result of a desire I always had for work in the tourism sector but I never really knew what exactly I should do. I just knew that it would be different from what is currently on the market”. Added to this, the new CEO said she had a knack for acting as a tour guide for her overseas-based relatives and friends, whenever they would come home for a visit.
“So when I went to Suriname and saw the bicycles tours, I immediately thought that this was something we can do in Guyana,” she said.
She noted however, at that time, she was employed in the shipping industry and so naturally finding time to provide a service to take international and domestic tourist sightseeing posed a challenge.
“I was also studying so due to a number of reasons, I was discouraged from doing it,” Greene said, adding the idea resurfaced last year while she was at home during the pandemic.
“I had decided to leave my job in shipping because it was not offering me much of a challenge,” Greene disclosed.
She told this newspaper too, that before leaving her job, she furthered her personal educational goals.
“I had signed up for an online course with a British University and completed my studies in events planning after I completed my diploma in Human Resource Studies,” she said, noting that even though she was academically equipped to launch the business she was not sure where she would get the capital to start.
The fleet of 13 European-style retro beach cruiser bicycles up for rental for domestic tourism.
Greene said it was almost divine orchestration that she messaged “a Whatsapp friend” who forwarded her information about a $1M being offered through the Ministry of Tourism’s Small Business Bureau (SBB)’s Green Tech Fund.
According to Greene, the SBB required that persons applying for the fund send in a proposal on a new innovative idea as well as a detailed financial plan of what is expected for the project.
“The Bureau wanted that within a week and I was able to submit in a 12-page document within the required time,” she added.
According to the CEO, about four month after applying, she found out that she had copped the prize money and started to work on establishing Ride Along GY Bicycle Tours and Rentals.
Today, the young businesswoman has a fleet of 13 European-style retro beach cruiser bicycles up for rental for domestic tourism and other recreational purposes in the city. She was also able to acquire a business office at Durban Street, Werk-en-Rust and hire a small complement of staff including one tour guide.
At present, in addition to the city tours, the company facilitates other types of tours and various excursions.
“Our company will offer Guyanese and visitors the opportunity to explore our historical sites, our nature trails and our cultures from the perch of a pedal cycle while on guided tours and excursions. Alternatively, our customers will be able to rent a bicycle and pedal in and around Georgetown at their convenience whilst promoting fitness and reducing emissions and congestion from fossil fuels produced by motor vehicles,” Greene said obviously overjoyed to mark and celebrate the premier of the unique service which will launch on Saturday, at the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports Ground, Carifesta Avenue.
In the meantime, the entrepreneur says persons who wish to learn more about Ride Along GY’s company and services, can visit the website www.ridealonggy.com and the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/CreativeGY1 or can also be contacted on Tel# (592)-616-0701.
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