Guyana (CU)_Through the Economic Development Accelerator program, at least 40 Guyanese agro-processors can gain access to critical business training and $1 million in interest-free funding to expand their operations across Guyana.
The Guyana Economic Development Trust is the conduit through which the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funds this initiative.
This year, the program’s first cycle was finished, and 30 participants received the training. Each of the top five received US $30,000 (or GY $6.2 million) to grow their companies for the export market.
But in the coming months, the program’s emphasis will change to helping regional agro-processors satisfy the needs of the regional market.
“You must become, more or less, a household name,” the programme’s manager Shaundell Brotherson told the News Room on Thursday.
Through the Economic Development Accelerator program, at least 40 Guyanese agro-processors can gain access to critical business training and $1 million in interest-free funding to expand their operations across Guyana.
The Guyana Economic Development Trust is the conduit through which the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funds this initiative.
The goal is to provide a year of business training to 40 to 50 local agroprocessors. They will each have access to US$5,000 or GY$1 million in interest-free loans at the conclusion of the training.
With this concentration, according to Brotherson, small company owners and agroprocessors will be able to supply shops and supermarkets all over the nation with refined goods.
“The reason for focusing on Guyana this year is that even though those products are scaling internationally, we found that many people in Guyana were not aware of these products.
“We wanna make sure that our agro-processors have their products in the supermarkets in Guyana,” Brotherson underscored.
The deadline to apply for this program is August 31, 2022. Any licensed, successful Guyanese agroprocessing company that has been in operation for at least a year is eligible to join.
