One of the things that the emergence of the oil and gas sector appears to have done for Guyana is to trigger an upgraded interest in entrepreneurship of one kind or another. Various other more modest streams of business appear to have been feeding off the investments in much more expansive entrepreneurial pursuits, the latter preoccupation driven by a recognition on the part of the more ambitious, wealthier investors that the country’s economy would appear to be on the threshold of real take-off. Further down the entrepreneurial ladder, ‘oil and gas’ would appear to have triggered infestation by a ‘business bug’ that has made its way into every societal nook and cranny.
There is, unquestionably, a distinct ‘hum’ in what we refer to as the small business sector, the effect of this being, on the one hand, the strengthening of those pursuits that have, traditionally, been classified as being ‘small business’ in nature, and on the other, the emergence of new ones that appear, in the wider business environment, to offer altogether different but equally exciting prospects for entrepreneurial breakthroughs. All of this appears to have arrived on an entrepreneurial train on which there may well be ‘something for everyone.’ A notable feature of this ‘changing’ business environment would appear to be, in some instances, a rush by traditional businesses to re-invent themselves as best they can to take advantage of new market opportunities and the significant growth of pre-existing ones. Setting that aside there has also been a recognition that the country appears to have set off on what one might call an entrepreneurial charge in a host of new directions and that the business ‘playing field’ has, over a short period of time, afforded more room for new ‘players’ in the game.
One of the more significant features of the transforming environment (and there have been a number of significant ones) is the emergence of some noted ‘new’ developments across the tapestry of entrepreneurship. One of the more notable ones has been the significant enhancement of the discernable emergence of women as a growing force in the micro, small and medium-sized sectors of the country’s economy. If it has long been the case that women have been increasingly seizing upon entrepreneurial openings, this, over, perhaps, the past two to three years, has grown considerably. One only has to examine the increasing presence of women in areas of the retail and creative industries, the profusion of women-run ‘pop up’ shops, the seeming near domination of women in the small and medium-sized sections of the agro processing industry and the significant expansion of the country’s fashion and beauty sectors to take account of the growing demand to see changes. Beyond that, there has been a notable recognition on the part of women who already hold jobs in various professions to see ‘second job’ and by extension ‘second income’ opportunities as incentives to invest in various modest entrepreneurial pursuits (‘side hustles’ as they have come to be known) in areas such as agro processing, craft and various elements of the creative sectors.
What, also, can hardly be ignored, are the entrepreneurial ambitions of youngsters, some of whom whether still in school or contemplating what to do next, are engaging in micro businesses of one kind or another, going with the flow of the tide in a clearly defined direction. What all of this amounts to is a kind of a broad-based recognition of the fact that what the advent of oil and gas has done is to trigger a much wider sense of entrepreneurial awareness and ambition outside of the sector itself, and that in circumstances where there have not been, traditionally, structures to shape and direct that ambition, opportunity will probably be more likely, these days, to knock on the doors of people who are prepared to (as we say in Guyana) make their own luck. If there is a major challenge here, it reposes in the fact that the country has failed to throw up many institutions that have been prepared to throw their weight behind creating opportunities for the growth of the micro and small business sectors.
The local Private Sector Commission (PSC) has never even remotely pretended to be interested in supporting the growth of a micro and small business sector, that propensity having become even more pronounced in the current oil and gas era. In the instance of the local Chambers of Commerce, outside of the Georgetown Chapter, most of the others would appear to lack the capacity to play a meaningful role in the growth of robust small business sectors across the country. Government, historically, here in Guyana, has never, under any political dispensation, made any serious attempt to create adequate structures to sustain the growth of a thriving small business sector. Much of the reason, here, has to do with the fact that state-created opportunities are driven by considerations that have mostly to do with political ‘window dressing’ so that real opportunities for small business growth tend, all too frequently, to be piloted by political directives. Those kinds of initiatives will always remain hostage to partisan criticisms which means that they are often perceived as not serving the wider purpose that they were intended to serve.
The recent disclosure by the GCCI regarding its Small Business Week initiative, is, among other things, an opportunity for reflection on the condition of the small business sector as a whole, particularly on whether or not it is felt that the growth of a worthwhile small business sector can proceed and prosper alongside the simultaneous emergence of an oil and gas sector, which, truth be told, would appear to be, overwhelmingly, the primary preoccupation of both government and ‘big business’ at this time. Here, it is not a question of choosing one over the other but of recognizing that each, in its own particular way, has its role to play in the shaping of a country that offers something (and something worthwhile) for everyone. In a sense, it means that the emergence of a sturdy small business economic culture must, comparatively, attract a measure of official attention that equals that which is being afforded the oil and gas sector. We are nowhere near there at this time.
