Trinis flock to Guyana trade show
Stabroek News
June 11, 2004
Manufacturers are calling the latest trade show held in Trinidad last weekend a success.
The Guyana Trade and Investment Expo was held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel and Resort in Port of Spain.
Stabroek Business spoke with three manufacturers who stated that their products were well received and that the rainforest decor also attracted visitors.
"The response was good and the turn out was good," says Nicholas Young, who produces pottery depicting Amerindian art. Young is the owner of Rainforest Pottery in South Ruimveldt Gardens.
According to Young, visitors to his booth were taken back by the unique look of the product and its finish.
Young says he began selling his 26 pieces of pottery from 2 pm on Friday and by Saturday at 4 pm he was sold out. The Expo actually ended on Sunday.
Young is anxiously awaiting a similar trade show set for Toronto from June 18-20.
Young commends the Guyana Office for Investment and the New Guyana Marketing Corporation for their promotion of the show and the rainforest theme which created an unusual ambience.
Twins Manufacturing Chemist which exports throughout the Caribbean told Stabroek Business that this was their first trade show in Trinidad but rated their performance a success.
"People showed great interest in our products," says Shaheed Farouz, the managing director.
Farouz says being at the show helped the Trinidadians to identify Guyana as the producer of Twins products which are already sold there.
Apart from the few samples that were distributed by the company all of their products were sold out.
Company officials had to discontinue selling on Saturday at 7 pm so as to have something to display on Sunday. Twins', cocoa butter products and their cosmetics were among the products in demand.
The company took 25 cartons of products but could have sold 200 cartons. For the Toronto Expo, Twins has already shipped enough to satisfy the anticipated demand from West Indian customers. "Going into a country [which sold] similar items was tough," says Glynis Beaton, the general secretary for the Young Women's Christian Association.
However, YWCA sold most of their trademark achar and green seasonings, says Beaton since it was of a high quality. An order for gift baskets was placed by the Trinidadian arm of the YWCA.
She says since the YWCA is a non-governmental organisation, its main objective is to remain sustainable, so she was satisfied with the performance.
The packaging and labelling of the Trinidad products are superior to Guyana's so for the Toronto Expo the YWCA will be improving in these areas.
Beaton notes that the ambience at the Trinidad Expo was better than a similar show in Barbados in February which did not have many decorations. Stabroek Business was told that the wood, furniture and clothing booths at the Expo were also well received.
(Nicosia Smith)