Media Advisory: Transforming Guyana, Episode XI, Empowering the future, Guyana’s Youth & The Emerging Oil and Gas Economy

Production of the Guyana Business Journal & Caribbean Policy Consortium.

The Guyana Business Journal (GBJ) & Caribbean Policy Consortium host Transforming Guyana Episode XI,  Empowering the Future, Guyana’s Youth and the Oil & Gas Economy, on Wednesday, April 12, 2023, at 10:30 AM EST.

Speakers:

• Terrence Blackman: Founder, Guyana Business Journal
• David E. Lewis: VP, Manchester Trade Ltd. Inc. & Co-Chair, Caribbean Policy Consortium
• Elson Low: Economic and Youth Policy Advisor to the Leader of the Opposition, Guyana
• Karen Abrams: Founder, STEMGuyana
• Ronald Austin Jr.: Columnist, Researcher, Historian
• Florence Alexi Larose: Consultant |Sustainable Development| Community Building| Rural Development| Indigenous Peoples|
  • Please note Ms. Larose was unable to attend.

 Relevant Quotations:

• Dr. David Lewis:
  • “The people who are above that age [30 years] and are now sort of riding this wave, eventually will move on. But the new generation is the one that’s really going to be the one-hundred percent technology generation and new energy generation in Guyana, just as has happened here in the USA with the technology generation.”
  • “What’s going to equalize Guyana in a flat world is not just the money from oil and gas. It is how Guyana uses that money from oil and gas to really leverage financial resources and invest in the new areas such as technology, invest in the new geniuses and really move up.”

• Elson Low:
  • “…we could find quite a bit more oil before all of this is said and done. So there is a strong possibility that Guyana will become the country with the most barrels of oil per person in the entire world. And I know that that might sound, to some, astonishing but I’d like to remind them that right now, Guyana is the country with the second most barrels of oil per person in the entire world. That, to me, really means we have to take a step back and evaluate what the future will look like and what young people’s role will be in this radically, radically different future.”

• • “This really is quite a train that is leaving the station and it is a great opportunity for young people, but it poses some very serious challenges for young people as well.”

• • “How do we get from the current situation where you have various crises and various concerns, to a situation where you have a wealthy society where young people benefit hugely? First of all, training and education…In addition to that, the acquisition of housing and assets is something we need to pay close attention to ensure young people have the opportunity to acquire assets. If we’re thoughtful, if we recognize the types of challenges – and if we design specific interventions to deal with those challenges – we can move from being a country where there’s a lot of anxiety about the future… to a society in which young people have tremendous opportunities and capacities.”

• • “If we don’t provide them [young entrepreneurs] that opportunity to scale, that opportunity to compete, that opportunity to build their businesses, it will be very difficult for them to be able to compete with any corporations that are established. We need to make sure bright and innovative young people have access to capital.”

• Karen Abrams:
  • “What we [STEMGuyana] looked at is what was going on in the country and we identified an employment mismatch. Not in numbers – raw numbers – we have enough people to work in the oil and gas or any industry here. The problem is young people with the requisite skills…We have this growing oil economy, but it’s not just the oil economy – it is the fact that agriculture needs talent; mining needs talent; education needs talent; the healthcare industry needs talent.”

• • “We have billions of dollars today and will have many more billions tomorrow. We need to get enough young people in the pipeline so that in 5, 10, 15 years they can be contributing meaningfully to the development of Guyana.”

• • “You can’t optimally develop an economy in a small society, tiny population and then have a significant portion [females] of your young people not contributing to the development of the country…Technology in the hands of girls helps to break the cycle of poverty, helps to solve problems impacting the community, and, again, girls make up half the population – it’s just the right thing to do.”

• • “I am not confident that innovation is done well through government…I want the government to provide a solid infrastructure and to provide a level playing field and be willing to connect in a meaningful way with innovators. Provide the infrastructure for innovators to come in and do amazing things.”

• Ronald Austin Jr.:
  • “When I consider youth development in any context, especially oil and gas, I think you have to have several steps in place. First, I think it is important you come up with a developmental master plan which would receive buy-in from the entire society…In my view, you have to consider that youth cannot be seen in an isolated circumstance; it is connected to your development master plan, it is has to be considered an important part of the process.”

• • “If you’re going to have a framework, within which you come up with policies directed to youth connected to a master plan, there has to be continuity. In my estimation, for you to have that there has to be a) buy-in and b) you have to have some legislative protection insofar as that is possible in the Guyana context. The second thing is you have to consider the structure of this intervention. And as you do that, I’m of the view that you have to do a serious, serious situation analysis and you have to, from a policy standpoint, have the ages of youth. You have to pin that down.”

• • “If you have your development vision, your interventions have got to be connected. If your eventual vision is where you’re using the revenues from the oil and gas economy to develop a knowledge-based economy then your interventions have to go mirror that aim or objective.”

Terrence Blackman, Ph.D., Founder & CEO Guyana Business Journal terrence.blackman@guyanabusinessjournal.com

Dr. David E. Lewis, Fellow and Co-Chair, Caribbean Policy Consortium DavidLewis@ManchesterTrade.com