Finance Minister challenges local businesses to expand beyond Guyana

─ at sod turning ceremony for Assuria’s new office

Senior Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance, Hon. Dr. Ashni Singh on Wednesday charged Guyanese businesses to expand their outlook beyond the local economic space.

The Minister made these statements during a sod-turning ceremony for the $800 million, five-storey headquarters for Assuria General and Life Insurance Companies at the junction of Carmichael and Church Streets, Georgetown.

The company had set up its Guyana office in 2012, after gaining success in its home country, Suriname.

Dr. Singh said Assuria’s launch here almost a decade ago was an indication of Guyana’s economic potential, and maturing insurance industry. He said local businesses should emulate Assuria’s example.

“Assuria has demonstrated that companies … once they achieve a certain size and a certain capability, need not only confine themselves to their domestic market, but indeed can look beyond their domestic market, at opportunities outside their domestic market space.”

The Minister noted that while there are Guyanese companies operating at world class standards, they must continue to raise the standards of their service, so that they could remain competitive on the international stage.

“I look forward to the day when these companies will identify and seize opportunities beyond the Guyanese economic space. I look forward to the Guyanese companies of today, becoming the large, regional companies, and the large regional conglomerates of tomorrow, and indeed becoming companies with an international footprint,” Dr. Singh said.

The Minister said companies have ample opportunities to do so, as Guyana is experiencing a period of rapid transformation and its people are in a uniquely privileged position to capitalise on the increasing benefits.