> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.lacaribenanews.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # About One Hundred Guyanese Small Businesses Open at the Railway Courtyard Today, and Some of Them Will Be Selling Through a QR Code - URL: https://www.lacaribenanews.com/gcci-national-small-business-week-expo-railway-courtyard-2026/ - Published: 2026-10-24T12:40:24.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-25T05:18:47.000Z - Description: About 100 small businesses exhibit at the Railway Courtyard in Georgetown on 24 and 25 October 2026, closing the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry's fifth National Small Business Week. One exhibitor is a free virtual-storefront platform taking payment through MMG. - Author: Theon Alleyne - Tags: Wire, CELAC Wire, Guyana, MSME, Small Business Bureau, Procurement, Business **Quick summary:** About 100 small businesses, creators and entrepreneurs exhibit at the Railway Courtyard in Georgetown on 24 and 25 October 2026, closing the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry's fifth National Small Business Week. Exhibitors include a free virtual-storefront platform taking payment through MMG. By LCN Wire The Railway Courtyard fills this morning with about one hundred stalls, and stays open through tomorrow. What is on sale there is the ordinary business of the country: food, cosmetics, clothing, gifts, services. What is new is how some of it can be bought. ## What is happening at the Railway Courtyard today? An expo of about 100 exhibitors, on 24 and 25 October, open to the public. [Kaieteur News](https://kaieteurnewsonline.com/2026/10/21/gcci-launches-small-business-week-100-exhibitors-to-showcase-products/?ref=lacaribenanews.com) reported that the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry's National Small Business Week "will culminate with the Expo on 24th and 25th October at the Railway Courtyard, Georgetown, providing a platform for local enterprises to showcase their products and services, engage potential customers, generate sales and build business relationships." Chamber President Kathy Smith used her remarks at the launch to put the ask to the public rather than to the exhibitors, encouraging people to turn up and buy, and saying consumer engagement and market visibility are what keep local enterprises developing. ## What can a customer do there that they could not do last year? Buy from a stall by scanning it, and pay without a card. [News Room](https://newsroom.gy/2026/10/20/more-customers-digital-storefronts-for-small-businesses-at-gccis-expo/?ref=lacaribenanews.com) reported that Diyatro Irrao of Synonymous and Nascence is at the expo promoting Vibes Market, a platform that puts a business's products into a three-dimensional virtual store reached by QR code. A customer can browse the items, see prices and stock levels, pay through MMG and have the goods delivered. The platform is free at present, and the company is helping vendors learn it. Irrao named the obstacle himself. "One of the biggest issues that I've had and what people have told me is that most people are not tech-literate, so the idea is to show people to understand it's a very easy process," he said. For a vendor the arithmetic is simple. A stall reaches whoever walks past it for two days. A storefront behind a QR code stays open after the Courtyard empties, and MMG reaches customers who hold no card at all. ## What are exhibitors there to get? Sales, and the people who buy at volume. Natasha Ally of Natasha's Gift Centre told News Room she is there to build a network as she prepares to start a catering venture. "I am actually expecting to put my work out there so that I can connect to business owners," she said. That is the part of an expo that does not show up in a day's takings. A corporate buyer, a hotel, a supermarket or a government agency walking the stalls is worth more to a small manufacturer than a weekend of retail sales, and two days is the cheapest way to be seen by all of them at once. ## What was the week before it? Four days of workshops, run by the institutions that control what a small business is allowed to do next. Smith said National Small Business Week has been a Chamber initiative since 2022, and that entrepreneurs with good products "often face challenges in financing, business management, pricing standard, and access to market". This year's programme put five bodies in front of them, at the Chamber's building at 156 Waterloo Street. The Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry took access to finance and financial management. The Guyana Marketing Corporation led business planning and strategy, and costing and product pricing. The Centre for Local Business Development took procurement, business growth and leadership, including tendering and government contracts. The Guyana National Bureau of Standards took quality, standards and certification. The Small Business Bureau led marketing fundamentals, on marketing, digital readiness and customer engagement. A Founders' Talk ended the workshop programme on Friday at the University of Guyana's SEBI Building, Turkeyen. Finance, pricing, procurement, certification and registration. A business that sat through all five met every gate it has to pass, in four days, without leaving Waterloo Street. ## Why does a two-day expo matter in this market? Because each of those gates has moved this year, and the businesses at the Courtyard are the ones they moved for. Guyana's Development Bank opened on 5 October with [G$20 billion in its first tranche and a G$3 million ceiling on a loan](https://www.lacaribenanews.com/guyana-development-bank-20-billion-first-tranche-3-million-loans-2026/), and the President has since put applications [in the tens of thousands](https://www.lacaribenanews.com/guyana-development-bank-20000-applications-agriculture-2026/). Government procurement below G$15 million [now runs through a bidders register](https://www.lacaribenanews.com/guyana-bidders-register-below-15m-closed-procurement-act-2026/), so a business outside it is outside the smallest contracts. And certification remains the slow gate: a Pomeroon cassava maker certified for four years [found 101 counters in the country, two of them abroad](https://www.lacaribenanews.com/centaur-holdings-pomeroon-gnbs-certification-iso-export-ladder-2026/). A World Bank study this year found [more Guyanese working for themselves, many of them by choice](https://www.lacaribenanews.com/guyana-self-employment-informality-world-bank-study-2026/). The hundred at the Courtyard are the registered end of that number, in the same week the money, the tender list and the standards counter all changed around them. ### The entities - **Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI)** organises National Small Business Week, which it began in 2022. - **Kathy Smith** is the Chamber's President. - **National Small Business Week (NSBW)** ran from 20 to 25 October 2026 under the theme "Small Businesses, Big Opportunities". - **The Railway Courtyard**, Georgetown, is the expo venue on 24 and 25 October. - **Vibes Market** is the virtual-storefront platform promoted at the expo by Diyatro Irrao of Synonymous and Nascence. - **MMG** is the mobile money service through which that platform takes payment. - **Natasha's Gift Centre** is an exhibiting business whose proprietor, Natasha Ally, is preparing a catering venture. - **Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI)** led the access to finance session. - **Guyana Marketing Corporation (GMC)** led business planning, costing and pricing. - **Centre for Local Business Development (CLBD)** led procurement, tendering and government contracts. - **Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS)** led quality, standards and certification. - **Small Business Bureau (SBB)** led marketing fundamentals and digital readiness. ### What the title card shows Every data point on the article's title card, in text. - **About 100.** Exhibitors at the expo. Source: Kaieteur News. - **24 and 25 October 2026.** The expo dates, at the Railway Courtyard, Georgetown. Source: Kaieteur News. - **20 to 25 October.** The full week of National Small Business Week. Source: Kaieteur News. - **Free.** The current price of the Vibes Market storefront platform. Source: News Room. - **Five institutions.** The bodies the Chamber named as leading the workshops. Source: Kaieteur News. - **Since 2022.** When the Chamber began the initiative, on its President's account. Source: Kaieteur News. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### When and where is the GCCI small business expo? At the Railway Courtyard, Georgetown, on 24 and 25 October 2026, with about 100 exhibitors. It closes a week of activities that began on 20 October. ### What is Vibes Market? A platform promoted at the expo that places a business's products in a three-dimensional virtual store reachable by QR code, showing prices and stock levels, taking payment through MMG and offering delivery. Its developer says it is free at present. ### Which institutions ran the workshops before the expo? The Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry on access to finance; the Guyana Marketing Corporation on business planning, costing and pricing; the Centre for Local Business Development on procurement, tendering and government contracts; the Guyana National Bureau of Standards on quality, standards and certification; and the Small Business Bureau on marketing and digital readiness. ### How long has National Small Business Week been running? This is the fifth edition. Chamber President Kathy Smith said the initiative was introduced in 2022.