PSC chairman: SMEs faced biggest hurdles in 2025

A small business at a nation exposition. (Credit: Small Business Bureau)

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) faced the greatest challenges this year, Chairman of the Private Sector Commission (PSC) Captain Gerry Gouveia Jr. said, citing compliance, financing and execution constraints.

Speaking on the latest edition of Ignite News Insights, Gouveia Jr. said many new businesses were struggling to meet international standards, access financing and implement projects, issues that have slowed their growth.

“There’re many small businesses being formed every day. They’re having challenges in terms of making sure that they’re compliant for the international standards, access to finance, and then the execution of a lot of their projects can sometimes be hindered because of those challenges. It’s very important for the private sector and the government, but particularly in this case the private sector to work with the SMEs as they’re probably the number one challenged industry,” he shared.

Gouveia Jr. said labour-intensive industries were also under pressure, largely due to skills shortages and manpower constraints, while sectors dependent on imports were affected by supply chains unable to keep pace with demand.

Looking ahead, he said the PSC aims to help develop stronger local enterprises in 2026 to ensure Guyanese businesses remain competitive regionally and internationally.

“One of our main objectives is to continue our international outreach. The private sector has been very active in terms of engaging international partners, and what we’re doing is fostering the avenues of international trade. With that comes a level of importation of either capital, human resources, or technology which once we can integrate with national partners develop stronger local enterprises,” he said.

Upskilling the local workforce remains a major priority, he added, noting that the private sector would continue to supplement local labour with migrant workers where necessary to maintain competitiveness.

“We’re promoting the relationships with the international businesses, commerce organisations, as well as making sure that whenever there’s opportunities we are sending Guyanese to these different areas to promote Guyana. For example, we just had a team that went all across Europe talking about agriculture, port development and so on. They went to four or five different countries learning about the industry, finding potential partners and representing Guyana across Europe,” the PSC chairman noted.