Essequibo Night succeeds – local businesses seek to expand their markets

DPI, Georgetown, Guyana, Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Known as the bread basket of the nation, the Essequibo Night expo which was held over the past weekend showcased much of what the region has to offer. The annual fair is organized by the Region Two administration.

On Friday October 27 and Saturday 28, the Anna Regina Community Ground was transformed as over 100 businesses showcased their products at the Essequibo Expo under the theme, “Food security and Hinterland development: Our national priority.”

According to the Regional Executive Officer, Rupert Hopkinson, “This was the best ever in terms of turn out, vending and in terms of the support both at the gates, and the vendors.”

Referring to the visitors who turned out in their numbers Hopkinson stated, “It was a statement by people that we want joy. We want to contribute to the life social and economic life of the region.”

Alongside local food vendors, some of the other exhibitors included Imam Bacchus and Sons Ltd., Massay Industries Limited, Image make-up, Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL), Atlas Distributions, Essequibo Technical Institute (ETI), Ministry of Agriculture; Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NARIE) and the Guyana Marketing among others.

The Department of Public Information (DPI) caught up with some of the visitors and exhibitors.

Nick Barassi, a local Essequibo businessman, was so encouraged with the large turnout he plans to invest more for into his operations in order to contribute to the economy. Another resident of Essequibo Terrence Paul, opined, from the number of exhibits displayed, that the town has been growing over the years.

Glennis Agard who has been vending black pudding, sugarcane and bar-b-que with her unique twist for over 20 years, said this year in particular, “The crowd, and support, has been outstanding.”

At the IAST’s consumer launch of the Morning Glory Cereal at the event, Director of IAST Dr. Suresh Narine enthused, “We couldn’t ask for a better response it seems that most people are delighted with the taste first of all, but when they hear it is a local product, manufactured right here and nutritional values, boxes of the cereal were sold in large numbers.”

The Guyana Rice Development Board’s display focused on diversification methods that rice farmers can employ to further boost production and market. One such was the “Rice and Fish Field”- where ‘Tilapia’ along with the rice are harvested in the same field.

The event this year concluded at the 2am curfew, which enabled visitors to fully enjoy the expo and vendors to acquire more sales of their products.

The hosting of such exhibitions has been one of the main factors, of this administration plan to develop an environment which attracts direct foreign direct investment and allows small businesses to grow.

“There must be fresh investment; there must be new investment in Region Two. It can only come from making sure that this Region is safe and secure and produces enough commodities to attract people in the diaspora and other countries to come here and invest”, President David Granger.