In recognition of a sterling contribution to local business, Bulkan Timber Works was yesterday awarded the country Prize in the 2009 Pioneers of Prosperity Caribbean Awards Com-petition.
The company will now compete with entrepreneurs from The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Haiti, Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago for the regional prize. Receiving the prize on behalf of the company was Managing Director, Howard Bulkan, who has been involved in business for approximately 38 years. Bulkan Timber Works Inc. was formed in 1997 and the company manufactures and exports value-added wood products specifically for overseas markets. Currently the business has in excess of fifty employees.
At yesterday’s award ceremony held at the Regency Suites, Teri O’Brien, General Manager of Wilderness Explorers was also honoured for her contribution to local industry and won the Honourable Mention Prize. Wilderness Explorers is a tour operator and offers adventures in the wilderness of South American and Caribbean territories through comprehensive itineraries.
The recipients of the Pioneers of Prosperity Awards, runner –up Teri O’Brien (left) and winner Howard Bulkan.
The Pioneers of Prosperity Program is sponsored by the multilateral investment fund of the Inter-American Development Bank, the John Templeton Foundation, and the Social Equity Venture Fund (S.E. VEN Fund). The programme seeks to inspire a new generation of entrepreneurs in emerging economies by identifying, rewarding and promoting outstanding businesses which will serve as role models.
As the country winner, Bulkan’s Timber Works will receive a grant from the Multilateral Investment Fund of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) of US $40,000 to be invested in training and technical infrastructure for the company while Wilderness Explorers will receive a grant of US$10,000 to be used for similar purposes.
According to the Programme’s website, the winners were chosen on their ability to: create unique value for customers through innovative products and/or services, generate a sustainable profit for owners/shareholders commensurate with the risks taken by investing in them, invest in their employees through training, safe working conditions, and high and rising salaries and protect the future by strengthening local and global environments and communities.
The website stated that for persons to qualify for the award, they would have had to employ more than five full time staff, earn between US$100,000 and US$5,000,000 in revenues per year, be a for-profit entity, have been profitable for more than 4 quarters in a row, receive some type of outside funding (e.g. from financial institutions), not rely solely on donor financing.
Similar awards are given out in other Caribbean territories and the various country winners and runners-up will compete for the regional awards which will be handed out in September in Jamaica.
Good story. Shows ongoing progress and development in Guyana.
Congratulations to the winner and runner up. Guyana needs more private enterprise to diminish the importance of who leads the government. If the majority of jobs are private sector jobs, political parties would be become less dominant in our lives and the constant ethnic bickering should subside. Merit should be the only criterion for determination of suitability for jobs.
Bora, I am surprised to hear this comment from you. It is very factual and truthful, but your are one who prefers to keep your money in a vault.
Were it not for the IDB, would they have been recognized? Where is the government’s contribution to the prize? What development are you referring to, Reddy?
visit guyana every year and you will see the developement
This is a terrific ‘feel-good’ news item. Congratulations to the winner and to the runner-up.
Bulkan’s Timber Works US$40,000 and Wilderness Explorers US$10,000 are sure to be well spent. The Guyuana’s future is surely in the hands of private industry and news item shouts to us:
YES! WE CAN!
Great news! Lets reward those who rape our forests. They get taxbreaks to steal and export our resources. The destruction left behind is overlooked because they threw a few dollars on the ground for the people to scramble for it.
Open your eyes people. See what is going on in the interior. The poor villages sorrounding the worksites of these Pioneers of prosperity are decimated with poverty. AIDS, prostitution, alcholism, drugs are rampant in these settlements. The workers are paid money that is spent in the brothels and rumshops owned by the Pioneers of Prosperities.
You have a very myoptic view of progress, csingh.
Yes, it can be all those things you mentioned BUT IT CAN BE A GREAT ENGINE FOR GOOD.
Work FOR the good.
Work AGAINST the bad.
IT IS NOT ALL BAD AND EVEN IF NAYSAYERS STOP PROGRESS IN GUYANA; THE ARMY OF PROGRESS MARCHES ON IN PROGRESSIVE STYLE ELSEWHERE.