Caribbean lifestyle magazine to feature Guyana
Stabroek News
June 8, 2004
The Caribbean's leading lifestyle magazine with an international market of readers is featuring the best of Guyana's furniture, food and homes.
MACO, a glossy full-colour magazine with high quality photographs has done well in promoting the Caribbean's architecture, art, culture and cuisine.
Stabroek News spoke to Managing Director, Nesha Soodeen, who said Guyana had received a small section in the Trinidad-based magazine a few editions ago but this time the country would be the major focus of an upcoming publication.
"I believe that Guyana has good stuff; all they need is to advertise the stuff to the fullest," said Soodeen during her one-day visit.
She has already started to speak with the authorities concerning publishing information about businesses in Guyana in order to promote investment.
Toute Bagai, the company that produces MACO has been in existence since October 1999 and is now planning to spread its wings and produce another magazine which will give architects, interior designers and home owners access to manufacturers, distributors and suppliers of furnishings, appliances and accessories from within the Caribbean region.
The managing director disclosed that the new magazine would be named the Caribbean Interior Source Book.
Persons in the Caribbean who are building or redecorating will now have a source for products such as antiques, lighting, ornamental design, decorative gates, soft furnishings, windows and doors all manufactured or distributed throughout the Caribbean.
"Caribbean residents are opting to buy home furnishings from within the region as opposed to shopping in places like Miami and the UK, however, sourcing these products has always posed the greatest difficulty," said Soodeen.
The new magazine, which will be out by September, is expected to have 13 sections listing all the requirements for home construction or redecoration.
Giving a brief history, Soodeen said the company was formed in 1999 in Trinidad and it launched its flagship publication, MACO Caribbean Architecture, that same year. In 2000, MACO Caribbean Architecture evolved into MACO Caribbean Living, a lifestyle magazine featuring architecture, cuisine and travel.
At the beginning of 2003, Toute Bagai publishing extended MACO's distribution farther afield making it the first magazine published in the Caribbean to be sold on international news stands in almost 63 countries.
Soodeen told Stabroek News that she operates her publishing magazine with five other girls and her interest for this kind of magazine came after seeing her friends travelling to other countries just to purchase furniture and home furnishing tools.
According to Soodeen, she thought MACO was the perfect name for her magazine since she either has to be peeping into people's home or their recipes.
"I had no idea that I would have being doing this for a living, I studied criminology at university and I thought that was my career path!"
Her next visit to Guyana before the end of the year will see her going to different houses, checking out different artists and finding that perfect recipe.