-by Jarryl Bryan
President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali has challenged more family-owned businesses to embrace publicly traded stocks, among other innovations. He explained that corporate Guyana developed on the back of family-owned enterprises and while this has steadily changed over the years, there is more room for growth.
The president made these remarks while attending the opening of Banks DIH’s new malt bottling plant. President Ali noted that more companies should allow Guyanese to buy and own stocks. This is a way of raising capital and encouraging an investment culture within the country.
“As more local family-owned businesses mature, they too should consider graduating toward greater public ownership. Because shareholding strengthens governance, improves access to capital and most importantly, it allows more citizens to participate directly in the growth of the economy,” the president said.
The Head of State also acknowledged Banks DIH’s introduction of employee stock options, enabling workers to own shares and invest more than their time and energy into their place of employment.
“Banks DIH even went further. It did not stop at public shareholding. It provided its workers with opportunities to become shareholders. Think about the power of that idea. When a worker is also an owner, something changes. Loyalty deepens, productivity improves. Industrial relations stabilise. The company becomes more than a place of employment. It becomes a shared enterprise,” he said.
The new bottling plant forms part of Banks DIH’s continued expansion and is expected to support local jobs, increase exports, and strengthen Guyana’s beverage industry.