-by Nakasia Logan
Regional conglomerate ANSA McAl is being encouraged to invest in Guyana’s agro-processing sector and strengthen partnerships with local farmers as the country continues its drive towards a more diversified, value-added economy.
Speaking at the Growing with Guyana Business Networking reception hosted by ANSA McAL at the Guyana Marriott Hotel, President Ali emphasised the immense opportunities emerging from Guyana’s economic transformation, urging businesses to invest in manufacturing, agriculture, and innovation.
He highlighted the importance of helping small farmers scale up production to become part of larger supply and manufacturing chains.
“ANSA McAL cannot only be looking at distributing food at this point in their development. Your vertical must be saying to you, we have to now build the systems to allow manufacturing and value creation here in Guyana. You now have to get connected to a series of small farmers, invest in them to bring them upscale, and when you have the scale among them, then have the infrastructure to take their products and add value and bring it into your value chain. That is where the country is going,” he said.
“That is where we are going to invest incentives in. And I want to see ANSA McAL move to creating its own eco-space to value creation,” he said.
The President said Guyana is laying the foundation for what he described as a grand transformation and stressed that both government and private sector must prepare for the rapid pace of development. He also outlined plans to modernise government systems and position Guyana as a regional hub for innovation.
“We want to position Guyana as the innovation hub of the CELAC region. We want to position Guyana as a data center hub for the region and of course as a high value destination for investment in value creation and not only value extraction,” he said.
The Head of State pointed to lower energy costs and expanding regional markets such as northern Brazil as key incentives for investment in value-added industries.