Media Advisory: Transforming Guyana Season II, Episode VIII, Guyana’s Journey to Becoming a Top Choice for Investors

Program 

Speakers:

• Rosalinda Rasul, Head of Diaspora Unit Ministry of Foreign Affairs & International Cooperation Guyana
• Joel Bhagwandin, Director, SphereX Professional Services | Commissioner, Public Procurement Commission, Guyana
• Stacey Mollison, President/CEO Libra Management Group
• Patricia Francis, Chairperson of Trade Facilitation Task Force and former Executive Director ITC
• David Lewis, Vice President, Manchester Trade Ltd. Inc. & Co-Chair, Caribbean Policy Consortium
• Terrence Blackman, Founder, Guyana Business Journal

Quotations:

 David Lewis, Vice President, Manchester Trade Ltd. Inc. & Co-Chair, Caribbean Policy Consortium

• “We need to start looking at the investment climate and economy in Guyana, to a certain degree, beyond oil and gas…and the fact of really preparing the country for growth in a variety of sectors.”
• “The problem with setting up business and setting up financing and bank accounts in Guyana remains extraordinary. We are beginning to see it as a disincentive, particularly for small companies and for the Diaspora coming in trying to set that up as a key requirement to be a bonafide business there.”
• “This is work in progress. You’re building a brand-new country, from where it was before.”

 Terrence Blackman, Founder, Guyana Business Journal

• “Many observers can find places for criticism, but if you take this view of what’s happening in Guyana in the broad sense, these macroeconomic fundamentals seem to be in place to make it a very attractive destination.”
• “We are often – in our approach to this business of Diaspora engagement, the business of investor relations with Guyana – prone to a kind of conflictual relationship. If we aim for partnership, then this is not an unreasonable way to pursue this.”

 Rosalinda Rasul, Head of Diaspora Unit Ministry of Foreign Affairs & International Cooperation Guyana

• “When you talk about Guyana having a very small population and then it’s taking off at a massive growth rate, you will need a lot of skills. We can choose to run after projects or initiatives that is not exactly what would have a great impact on the country, or we can choose to engage the Diaspora in a way that will really help to reenergize the country and take it where it needs to go.”
• “In 2023, we started a conversation at the national level with private sector and public sector stakeholders on the shortages of skills in the country…that ended with the commitment to form a manpower unit which will be managed by the Ministry of Labor that will look into the shortages and labor needs of the country.”
• “All of these companies are coming to the [Diaspora] Unit basically to say that ‘We have positions. There are some that we can’t find the skills in Guyana, we would like to utilize the services of the Unit to reach into the global Diaspora.’”

 Joel Bhagwandin, Director, SphereX Professional Services | Commissioner, Public Procurement Commission, Guyana

• “International investors are always concerned primarily with political risks in the market in which they are contemplating to invest. Now, we are not only looking at geopolitical risk at a domestic level, but broad geopolitical developments.”
• “Our development journey that is being ramped up, that is being accelerated at a very rapid pace today, it started three decades ago. It started at a time where we had tremendous economic and political challenges. There was a time when we were a bankrupt economy.”
• “The main challenge as of now, in terms of investors and the private sector, is the skills deficit that we have, and it is a two-fold challenge. One, we have a skills deficit, a shortage of skills we need in all the sectors. Two, we have a skills mismatch, meaning that we have people actively looking for work, but of the jobs that are available, they don’t have the skills and competencies to match that.”

 Stacey Mollison, President/CEO Libra Management Group

• “Our goal is to continue to engage people. Now we’re looking at not just the Guyanese Diaspora, but how do we continue to build and grow this. You start with awareness, you come in-country, you connect with the stakeholders and then you help those people who are serious about engagement.”
• “It’s not just about our contemporaries, but we have to engage the young people because they bring innovation and ideas and a whole way of viewing coming into Guyana as second generation…I don’t think we do a good enough job of engaging the Millennial and Gen X population.”

 Patricia Francis, Chairperson of Trade Facilitation Task Force and former Executive Director ITC

• “The IMF has just come out with their report on Guyana and are indicating that they should probably have growth of about 26.6% this year…Of that, they are seeing that about 6.6% will be from the non-oil and gas domestic sector.”
• “Guyana has not really been doing very well when you look at the indicators by the World Bank, looking at the business environment. There seem to be still confusion with respect to multiple ministries that are overlapping in terms of regulatory responsibilities, and investors report they receive confusing messages from various officials. Clarifying this and the whole business of building institutions is critical and important.”