Seventh ‘Uncapped’ opens, participants excited for its return

Local manufacturers have lauded the return of Uncapped Marketplace.

The event, which is hosted by the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA), returned on Saturday following a hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Several manufacturers spoke with the Department of Public Information (DPI) about their participation and the various forms of support they had to foster their small businesses.

Owner of Leisa’s Salon and Beauty Supplies, Liesa Gibson said that “I went to every Uncapped. I had one product previously and then, today, here I have a variety.

“I’m just back from Barbados at Agro Fest where we got the booth free to be able to take part at Agro Fest and that was very good. These body oils, I launched them there. And the very first day, all that I took sold out because the government took our products to Agro Fest for us,” she added showing the oils on display.

A farmer of Canal Number Two, Tajenarine Lallman also proudly displayed his watermelons.

“The Minister of Agriculture give me a one-mile drainage trench like a month ago, we get some fertiliser, we get good help from this government,” he said.  

Denise Thomas of DT Craft Creation said, “through the help of Go-Invest because I register my business now for the past 15 years, I was able to move my business up to another level, where I took it to the Caribbean so I have a legally registered business in Barbados, where I sell at different hotels. I shipped a lot to different countries and that’s where I learnt to up my standard.”

This is her first time participating in Uncapped and she expressed gratitude to the organisers for affording her the opportunity to be there.

Additionally, Irene Bacchus-Holder of Amazon Authentics has had steady business from government agencies.

“I have been supplying the Government of Guyana, various ministries and agencies with products. I think my best-selling items to those agencies would be my pens. I make pens out of our rare and beautiful species of wood,” Holder said.

Meanwhile, Vice President GMSA Ramsay Ali, stated that the initiative was created to help small businesses promote their products.

“Uncapped is bringing our small Agro-processors to a marketplace where they can put their products out for sale, as well as letting the Guyanese people know what they produce. Most of these people that you would have seen when you have gone around, are women and they are from all over Guyana,” he said.

He noted that the activity is free for both exhibitors and patrons. It is done with the help of sponsors, including the Government of Guyana.

“Some of them are at a place where we have to help them get their products out of Guyana, into the diaspora to start with and that’s the next step for uncapped,” Ali stated.

Apart from the Uncapped Marketplace, Ali said the association also supports local businesses in other ways, like quality control, packaging and labelling, while training opportunities will also be provided.

He is also appreciative of the support that the government has provided including the national stadium’s tarmac to host the activity.