On Wednesday April 16, 2025, the Guyana Council of Organisations for Persons with Disabilities (GCOPD) in partnership with the Small Business Bureau (SBB) and with support from ExxonMobil Guyana held a one-day entrepreneurship and small business management training workshop for twenty eight (28) persons who are blind and visually impaired from Regions 2, 3, 4, 6 and 10. The workshop was held in the conference room of the National Library, Georgetown.
Delivering remarks were Ms. Chricell Whitney, Waste Management Lead – ExxonMobil, Mr. Ganesh Singh, GCOPD Programme manager, Mr. Simon Pollard, Deputy Chief Executive Officer – SBB and Mr. Lawrence Braithwaite an entrepreneur who is blind.
In his remarks Mr. Singh underscored the importance of persons who are blind and visually impaired attaining financial independence. He also highlighted the impact of the GCOPD ExxonMobil funded Orientation and Mobility programme on the lives of persons who are blind and visually impaired. In his remarks, Mr. Pollard highlighted the various training programmes and loan facilities available through the SBB. He also informed the participants of the special interest free loan facility available to persons with disabilities. Mr. Pollard encouraged the participants to apply for the interest free loan which has benefited twenty seven (27) persons with disabilities since its launch.
Delivering remarks on behalf of the founder ExxonMobil was Ms. Chricell Whitney. In her remarks Ms. Whitney underscored her company’s commitment to empower persons with disabilities through their various community initiatives. She informed the gathering “For ExxonMobil Guyana and community investment, we’re all about supporting initiatives that make a real difference, including for vulnerable groups. To see this added component of small business management training, going beyond just living skills is driving this vulnerable group’s empowerment even further”.
The 28 participants were exposed to training in the areas of small business registration, functions of management, small business marketing, among other areas in the management of a small business.
The entrepreneurship/ small business management workshop is a component of the GCOPD ExxonMobil funded Orientation and Mobility training programme for persons who are blind and visually impaired. Since the commencement of the programme approximately seven hundred (700) persons who are blind and visually impaired were taught independent living skills such as how to use the “white cane”, use smart phones with text to speech softwares, etc.
