A profile of Bostwick's work closing the ISO implementation gap that has kept Caribbean food producers out of international supply chains. The piece sets her practice against CARICOM's 25 by 2025 Initiative, which targeted a 25 percent cut in a regional food import bill of more than US$6 billion and has been extended to 2030.
“Candelle Bostwick, former Executive Director of the Guyana National Bureau of Standards and founder of CKB Enterprise Guyana, is helping Caribbean agro-processors close the ISO implementation gap that has kept the region's food producers locked out of international supply chains for decades.”
On her time at the Bureau, the article notes she “oversaw Guyana's national quality infrastructure at the precise moment when the country began its most consequential economic transformation”, and that the recurring failure points she observed were documentation, risk management, internal auditing capacity, and the gap between a framework written in Geneva and the daily reality of a facility operating in Georgetown.
Bostwick is named among the Guyanese women leading across the themes of the Organization of American States' Inter-American Commission of Women regional forum, alongside chamber presidents and maritime and services founders.
“Her work addresses a specific barrier the forum's entrepreneurship day is designed to discuss: the gap between running a business and accessing the international supply chains that make it viable.”
Addressing students at the first American Society for Testing and Materials International Road Show in Guyana, held at the Pegasus Hotel.
“In order for the transition of our culture in Guyana, from one where price takes precedence over quality, we would like to move Guyana to a standards-driven society.”
She added: “As students you must be sensitised on the benefits of standards and conformity assessments which are required for us to build a sustainable and resilient construction sector in Guyana”, and that “once students are exposed to the values and benefits of standards, it will help them in their decision-making process to choose standards and quality over the price of commodities.”
On bringing ASTM International's first standards road show for the construction sector to Guyana.
“The road show is basically promoting standards for the construction sector. I am aware that a number of our local contractors utilise ASTM standards, as well as our students at the University of Guyana and other technical institutions.”
The stated aim was “to inform academic institutions, government agencies and practitioners on the construction sector, and the standards that are available within the sector that can be utilised.”
As Executive Director she presented certification to the Woodlands Hospital Pathology Laboratory and the Guyana Defence Force Medical Laboratory under the GNBS National Laboratory Certification Programme, bringing the number of certified laboratories in Guyana to twelve.
Stabroek News reported that she “expressed her satisfaction with more laboratories getting onboard the Laboratory Certification Programme by conforming to the requirements of the National Standard.”
Named as Executive Director of the GNBS at the National Quality Awards, alongside the Minister of Business, the Chair of the National Standards Council and the Chief Executive Officer of CROSQ, at which eleven Guyanese businesses were recognised for implementing standards.
On leading the review and modernisation of the legislation that mandates the Bureau's functions, following public consultation with importers, manufacturers, regulators and consumers.
“For Guyana to meet international trade agreements, it was imperative that the GNBS as the National Standards Body adopt modern strategies and best practices to move Guyana in the direction of economic prosperity.”
She also set out the Bureau's forward mandate: to “develop a scheme to certify local products, provide audit service to companies, provide consultancy services, assesses the competence of quality practitioners, facilitate the accreditation of conformity assessment bodies and be the custodians of standards for weights and measures for Guyana.”