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Evie Gurchuran - Making giving sustainable
The Business of Kindness Making ‘Giving Back’ Sustainable
Evie Gurchuran
Guyana’s Woman In Business 2022
“I learned you can marry the two worlds – being in business but being conscious of how you do business. For me, it is about infusing kindness in all I do. It is about finding opportunity to give back, to mentor, to provide meaningful support to people who work with us, to help someone find their way even as we focus on doing business successfully.”
Evie Gurchuran has been incorporating kindness into her business life for decades. It began when she was still Evie Kanhai, one of five children of a strong, self-made family man who ran a large business in Georgetown, Guyana.
Everyone knew Kanhai’s Electrical & Variety Store, and moreso, Pastor Kanhai. As a Christian who believed in charity and often took his children into the socio-economically depressed parts of the interior to distribute food and clothing on holidays and to make a reality connect. It resonated with young Evie who was in her church’s Youth Arm, and already committed to giving back to community. This was not just about Christian teachings; it was a belief system the Kanhai family shared.
She also knew how to hustle. From the age of 12, she worked in the business, writing bills and later making trips as a suitcase trader, ferrying breakers, and other electrical components to Guyana in her luggage. “It was a buy and sell business - a hustle really,” says Evie, who was creative and strong-willed and destined to butt heads with Dad when she started seeing the possibilities that technology could bring. “Initially, he didn’t see value in my ideas, and that was hard because I was very creative, and innovative.”
Evie, of course, turned to Mom, telling her she wanted to work outside of the business so that she could put her creative energies to work. And so, she did, moving on to Laparkan Trading at 17, where she impressed the boss by designing flyers that she distributed in-store, encouraging customers to visit the Hire Purchase department, which at the time was located on the top floor of the Fogarty’s building. Inspired by the success, she soon started her own “side business”, designing logos, business cards and brochures for small companies.
She was attending the University of Guyana at the time but found it hard to keep up with the demands of work and study, and eventually dropped out and focussed on running the family business as her father’s health started to fail. Soon after she reconnected with a long-time friend – likeminded about business and philanthropy, and in 2008 she married Miguel Gurchuran, himself a Hindu but who shared her belief in charity. Dutifully supported by Miguel, Evie continued along the entrepreneurial path, guided by the principles of shared value – being socially responsible.
To look at Gurchuran Investments today, you’d think the Gurchurans succeeded at everything they put their hands to. Under its umbrella, there’s Emtec, a marketing and design business; Sites, which develops apps and websites; Java Coffee Bar, which supports local coffee growers and has three outlets in Georgetown, MovieTowne and Giftland Mall; and Co-Grow, a business incubator. But Evie has admitted: “There were so many days we wanted to give up, and for a long time, we were so overwhelmed.” Fortunately, they received mentoring and sound, friendly advice that “was worth more than any sales figure.”
In 2018, she won a Young Leaders of America Initiative opportunity in the United States, which exposed her to the importance of data in growing initiatives.
In 2019, her life took a turn that thrust her into the limelight and defined her with women and technology. It was a search for making a meaningful social impact. She designed a a proposal for a study entitled “Girls and Technology can change Guyana".
Funded through the IDB and with the US Embassy backing, she would survey over 200 women to understand how they used the internet, with the intention of creating programs that appealed to women. Soon, that exposure led to the global non-profit, Girls in Tech, approaching her to start a Guyana chapter. Again, it was back to the numbers. Girls in Tech surveys showed that young women entering the digital space needed mentorship and confidence-building.
The goals were simple: free and low-cost programming courses, and experienced mentors who the young women could call on as sounding boards. “That ability to approach the learning curve and to have someone hold your hand through it, is where I think we’ve done the best, and had the most impact,” says Evie. It was a window into career opportunities that the women could choose to open.
In her own businesses, Evie and Miguel support their employees by encouraging and funding education, as well as hiring single mothers who other employers might shy away from. The couple who have four young children, understand the demands of parenting and support their employees by encouraging inclusivity in decision making and processes to make the work environment a community for thriving.
Evie is also big on knowledge sharing, whether through a Facebook stream encouraging business owners to use their social media platforms as much as possible or conducting a Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) seminar where she preaches the need to get out of the “buy and sell mentality” by finding ways to add value and focus on customer relationships. This year her efforts were recognised when she was awarded the GCCI’s Woman in Business for 2022.
Evie recently passed on the mantle and off-boarded as Managing Director of Girls in Tech but has kept up her advocacy for women in the digital space through Girls + Tech, a non-profit founded with her husband. Visible and constantly engaged, she has a network of funders and supporters committed to the idea of providing a technological catapult for the advancement of women. “It’s a really a community effort, and young people are keen for support” says Evie.
Today, Evie educates herself with specialized courses, on social responsibility and women in management. She’s focused on strengthening her proposal-writing skills to increase funding, and on managing her own non-profit. “From that, I can also help companies map their own CSR and match it to existing non-profit work.”
From her father, she learned a grave and important life lesson. Despite running a multi-million-dollar business, his illness quickly depleted his funds, and he had little money to take care of himself when he fell seriously ill - in part because he had given much of it away; but also, because as a simple businessman who pulled himself up from the bootstraps, he didn’t fully understand the world of finance, posterity, and sustainable planning. Evie and her husband want their four girls to understand their social responsibility while acknowledging the importance of their own welfare. “They have a responsibility to be kind and help where they can,” she says. “But we also teach them to understand how money works – beginning in basic ways like saving for things they want, and rewarding themselves when they achieve goals, they set out for themselves. We also impart that the best person to take care of your future, is you. Today I honour my father’s memory by doing what I can but not more than I can.”
Through her role on the board of the GCCI, Evie Gurchuran has successfully planned and executed a National Small Business Week, along with other initiatives which have supported small and micro businesses by raising awareness at the National level.
The 20% government contract awarded to Micro and Small Businesses is linked to Evie’s position as CEO of EMTEC. The company developed and implemented software to manage micro and small businesses, track spending and report on related government spending.
Get published in the 2023 Corporate Sustainability Review
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