Building Female Capital

How the Women’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry Guyana is charting a course for women in business.

When the Women’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry Guyana (WCCIG) officially launched in November 2019, it was an exciting time. It’s founders Lyndell Danzie-Black and Kerensa GravesandeBart felt the time was ripe for a business organisation dedicated to the advancement of women, especially women in business.

Guyana had just emerged as a shining gem in South America and the Caribbean, riding on the waves of several oil discoveries dating back to 2015. The new oil economy was expected to generate opportunities for supporting industries and local businesses - especially small businesses - were encouraged to capitalise on the additional demand for transportation, housing, entertainment, food etc.

In December 2019, the WCCIG Board members engaged in a strategic planning session to chart a course for the organisation, the key objective being, to contribute to the empowerment of women in business by providing education, leadership, networking and advocacy as enablers to successfully launching and growing their businesses.

Then came the March 2020 elections and Covid-19 – a double whammy that stymied the WCCIG’s plans for several months as the country simultaneously went into lockdown and political uncertainty.

According to the World Bank, Covid-19 threatens gains in human capital by exposing weaknesses in health, education and social services. During a live online panel discussion in an October 2020 World Bank meeting, Melinda Gates of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation noted that women and girls are being disproportionately affected, through “shadow pandemics” such as domestic violence, maternal mortality, job loss and the increased burden of unpaid labour such as taking care of children, the home and the elderly.

Post Launch Initiatives

Recognising that it was a trying time for its membership, the WCCIG Board took a decision to waive fees until August of 2020 as the first show of support to its small but growing membership. The Board also decided to implement educational initiatives which could be facilitated by the new way of doing business – online.

Within the past year, the WCCIG organised several webinars aimed at the development of our human capital. These webinars covered topics such as staying afloat in times of crisis; dealing with anxiety; opportunities for innovation in the digital space; public speaking; and access to financing. The latter webinar was held following a simple needs assessment survey of membership which revealed that access to finance, especially in the context of Covid-19, was a major issue for women in business.

The webinar brought together resource persons from banking, micro-lending, and grant funding who were able to provide useful information to participants on what kind of funding they could access and what were the prerequisites for such funding.

Apart from the webinar series, the WCCIG used its Facebook page to showcase a number of inspirational women in its Fearless Females series and Career series, with the aim of inspiring women and girls to stay the course while at the same time fostering support and mentorship.

Gathering steam by March 2021, the organisation then hosted a successful inaugural Women and Girls Summit in commemoration of International Women’s Day 2021, during which it launched the Youth Arm to attract female entrepreneurs under the age of 20. This was in response to the number of youth businesses launched during the Covid lockdown that could benefit from the Chamber’s programmes.

The WCCIG saw the need for advocacy and lent their voice to the public outcry against the rising reports of domestic violence; child abuse; rape; murder and character assassination. A membership WhatsApp group was created to facilitate communication, networking and referrals. Around the same time the group gained added recognition when four members were invited into the Cherie Blair Foundation Mentorship Programme for Women Entrepreneurs.

In July 2021, the WCCIG announced a partnership with the InterAmerican Development Bank through Arizona State University Thunderbird School of Business, to implement the WE2A programme in Guyana. WE2A seeks to promote the growth and resilience of women led/owned small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with a special focus on Women SMEs (WSMEs) that are tapping to value chains and STEM based WSMEs.

Co-Founder Danzie-Black noted that the programme will help the Chamber achieve its goal of helping women start and grow their businesses, moving them towards economic independence.

One of the major issues affecting women during the pandemic is the growing rate of crime against women. Yet globally, there isn’t much being done to address this issue as COVID-19 relief has taken centre stage over CSR projects targeting Women Empowerment and Education. We identify gender equality as a great CSR opportunity, however in promoting gender equality we need to clearly focus on the same equality of opportunities, outcomes, rights and obligations as men. One way in which CSR programmes could contribute to women empowerment is to ensure women-inclusive participation in the workplace, placing them in positions of power and reducing the gender wage gap. We encourage corporate citizens to contact the WCCIG to discuss our projects and opportunities to collaborate on your CSR projects in Guyana.

Other projects in the pipeline include a Women Labour Participation Report; promoting the WCCIG Youth Arm; and an entrepreneurial ecosystem stakeholder mapping report. The organisation has also requested an audience with the Guyana Government to discuss ideas for local content policy.

The current members of the Board of directors are:

Lyndell danzie-Black – Founder & Managing Director, Cerulean Inc and Co-Creator, 25 Influential Women Leaders Awardee

Kerensa Gravesande-Bart – Founder & CEO, Strategic Recruitment Solutions

Sherry Ann dixon – Award Winning International Transformational Coach and Founder/Manager, Mercury Consultants

Jennifer Cipriani – Founder, Acme Marketing Consultancy and Partner, Reliable Automotive Service

Rowena Elliot – Community Sales Manager, Regus

Christine Camacho – Founder/CEO, Camsol Business Support

Latoya Jack – Founder/CEO, Kronoco Safety Solutions

www.wcciguyana.com