Linden entrepreneurs set to expand business ventures with US$30,000 grant

Jun 12, 2022 News

---

By Vanessa Braithwaite

Kaieteur News – Funding is inevitably one of the challenges for small businesses. While there is a growing international market for locally manufactured products, agro-processors are rarely able to meet this demand with quality products and high-end packaging because of the lack of funding and resources.

Recently, five agro-processors, three of whom are from the mining town of Linden, were awarded US$30,000 each to scale-up their businesses and take “Brand Guyana” to the world. They were awarded through the 2022 Economic Development Accelerator implemented by the Guyana Economic Development Trust in partnership with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The Linden awardees are Dwayne Wade – owner of Country Style Foods, Dianna Plowell – owner of Pleasurable Flavours and Tasmin Pillow – owner of Taz Foods.
Taz Foods is a Region 10 based agro-processing company, that manufactures bottled green seasoning – a luxurious garlic sauce and pepper sauces. ‘Cook-up in a Cup’ is the latest invention and Taz Foods is already working on new products.
With the ‘Cook-Up in a Cup’, there is no longer need for the labour intensive process of cooking a delicious pot of cook-up rice. No more grating coconuts, pressuring peas and mixing everything together to the right texture for hours. Guyanese can now enjoy this traditional meal in less than 30 minutes and still get that bursting authentic taste, that makes cook-up rice such a delicacy. Customers have a choice of either microwave or stove-top packages and are guaranteed the same healthy wholesome flavours that are enjoyed from a regular pot of cook-up rice. Taz Foods also recently launched a ready-to-make pasta product
Speaking on her journey to becoming a budding agro-processer and entrepreneur, the 36-year-old Pillow, said she has been very proactive in trying to gain as much knowledge to better herself. She participated in several training programmes including those from the Small Business Bureau and the Board of Industrial Training. She is also a former student of the University of Guyana and the Guyana School of Agriculture
Her products are sold in both wholesale and retail stores across Guyana at a very affordable cost. They are high quality and the packaging is superb and export-worthy. House-wives have testified of how flavourful her garlic sauce is, giving the perfect finish to any meal.
Country Style Foods, on the other hand, is a Linden based snack manufacturing company owned by Wade. Since plantain chips is one of Guyana’s most popular snacks, Wade decided that this must be his first product in his snack line-up. In less than a year, the company was birthed. This well-packaged, tasty, high quality, crispy, crunchy snack, is one of the first to grab to appease a munchies crave. Not only is it the definition of standard in its packaging but the product itself is well flavoured with natural herbs, free of oil and crispy to the last bite.
Wade said, he realised there was a large influx of plantain chips and other snacks made from local ingredients being exported into the country. As a result, he wanted Guyanese and the rest of the world to see that locals can manufacture something of the same quality and even better. “We import a lot of snacks and we want to prove that we can manufacture healthy, organic snacks of a high quality, with no excess calories, no trans-fat, gluten free and so forth. That, Wade said, was how his company was birthed.
What is extraordinary about this operation is that it started during the pandemic and has still reaped maximum success, even before the conclusion of the first calendar year. “We supply most of the retailers in Georgetown. We don’t have all the resources to spread across the country; we are working hard to do so. Right now, we are in almost all the supermarkets in Georgetown and retail shops,” he said. He recently launched the ripe plantain chip flavour to the brand and with the grant, will venture into other flavours such as cheddar cheese, sour cream and onion, barbeque and spicy flavours.
In addition to new plantain chip flavours, Wade said the company will be introducing other lines of snacks such as sweet potatoes and cassava chips.
Pleasurable Flavours is another Linden-based agro-processing company founded by Plowell. A household sauce name in Linden, Pleasurable Flavours is popular for its pepper sauce, green seasoning, all-purpose sauce, sweet pepper relish and other products. In fact, Pleasurable Flavours is one of the first Linden-based brand of products that has been made available in supermarkets across Guyana.
This grant is important to Plowell because the company started from humble beginnings. “I did a lot of walking around for two years, and then we started in the small shops in Linden,” Dianna said. She added that the business started when she realised that she could not adequately provide for her family after her daughter was accepted into a prestigious university in the United States.
“I got up from the bed and went to the fridge and I had a big bottle of [homemade] pepper. My father had a lot of these high wine bottles so I threw it out into these bottles and went around and I sold all out that afternoon. “I didn’t have any seal or any label or anything, the next day I went down the road and buy more pepper and blend and did that for a while and as the money came in, I increased in amount and quality and that’s exactly how I started,” the entrepreneur revealed.
From then to now, Dianna now has six flavours of pepper sauce and later added several other seasonings and products. Pleasurable Flavours also manufactures ready-mixed fruits for cakes, and local snacks such as plantain chips, chicken-foot and tamarind balls. Her latest product is the ‘Shake and Fry’ which is a meat and fish flour coating.
In addition to the grant, the awardees will also benefit from a year of coaching which will position them for the export market and to compete with leading brands across the region and internationally. The awardees were enrolled in the course since last year and were engaged in actual classes and completed assignments before qualifying for the grant.

 

 

---

---