Investing in Guyana: A view from the Diaspora

A recently retired Guyanese friend of mine who currently resides in Georgia just returned home from a two week visit to Guyana.  This was his first visit after many years and the purpose of his visit was to survey the landscape for investment opportunities.  As we sat in a neighborhood café, he had a glum look on his face as he said to me, “you know Karen, I never thought I would have the problem of having money to invest, a desire to invest, the time to invest but no earthly idea of where to invest.”  He went on to state that while he had the majority of his cash invested in the stock market, but he did have his heart set on investment in Guyana.  My friend’s feedback on Guyana was inconclusive.
In spite of my advice to meet with the Go-Invest agency, he opted to speak with a few private sector business owners who repeatedly shared stories of crime, a tough economy, the banking industry’s high interest rate and tight lending policies, and what he thought to be the most horrifying of all, the threat of retribution by government stakeholders (one he heard often was public ridicule or a deliberate delay of your container on the wharf) if you somehow found yourself on the wrong side of an issue.  Although I shared with him that much of what he heard was unsubstantiated hearsay, the net for him was that his unbridled enthusiasm had now been tempered.  He hasn’t ruled out Guyana but he’s also looking for investment opportunities closer to home.

To be fair, I will admit that there are Guyanese in the Diaspora who have returned home, invested and are successful.  I was quoted a number or around 78 by a Go-Invest representative but I will posit that even the number at 100 would be too low.  With more Guyanese living in the Diaspora than in Guyana, attracting more than 1000 Guyanese to return home to invest in SMEs in varying industries, could have a tremendous effect on jobs, crime, infrastructure improvements, health, education and the overall quality of life for citizens living in Guyana.  Investment by native Guyanese brings the additional benefit of profits banked in local banks and used for Guyanese economic development, brings an emotional connection to the country thus a desire to contribute to the development of communities, a respect for the environment and many more positives which I won’t address at this time.

The Diaspora and Private Sector

Attracting more investment from the Diaspora should not be done at the expense of the local private sector.  Indeed, unfair competition with the private sector will be unlikely since investment incentives are mainly offered to new industries or those in rural and un-served communities.  In fact, a mass influx of Diaspora FDI should benefit the local private sector, not only though consumption spending by a larger base of citizenry with disposable income from their new jobs but also through partnerships, transfers of knowledge, financial investments in existing businesses and mutual focus on issues such as crime, community development and the eradication of business corruption and bureaucracy.

Why Attract The Diaspora?
The Guyana Diaspora numbers more than 800,000 world-wide.  Some figures indicate as many as 1,000,000.  A small percentage of these Guyanese are extremely wealthy, many are well educated, many are well connected and many just want to make a contribution to various communities in Guyana.  What stops them?   For many risks of crime, politics, discrimination, bureaucracy, fear of the unknown, feedback from relatives,  and what they read in the news.  Technology has allowed the Diaspora into Guyana in a way which has been historically unprecedented.  Guyanese in the Diaspora read the daily newspapers with our cup of coffee each morning, we email and instant message with family and business partners in Guyana.  We return home during the summers and contribute with sports seminars; we offer our services to the government and we contribute more than $400 million US dollars to the Guyanese economy each year.  Indeed, very few intellectuals are willing to debate the fact that an absence of Diaspora support would have a severe negative impact and recession on the Guyanese economy.

Attracting The Diaspora

Life in the Diaspora has not been easy for Guyanese citizens, many work harder abroad than they ever worked in Guyana.  Many have become used to a certain standard of living and a professional way of doing business.  When they invest in Guyana, it’s not a contribution; they’re looking for a good return on investment.  They want to be able to easily navigate the business startup minefield; i.e. locate reasonably priced office space, turn on utilities with ease (done on the phone or online in any US), they want to work with reputable employment firms, and hire employees who have mastered the fundamentals of written and spoken grammar and who do not believe that coming to work on-time is optional.

Much more should be done to attract the Diaspora.  Recently while standing in the immigration department’s arrival line at the airport in Guyana, I noticed numerous flyers advertising a local Guyanese hotel.  The idea was simple yet brilliant; I read every word in that flyer while waiting and intend to use the services of that company upon my next visit.  While waiting in that line, I should also be able to pickup up an investment advice flyer.  When I leave the airport, I should know what to do to set up a tour, I should have read a good review of investment opportunities and a have a clear understanding of an automated business registration process.  Handling 300 investors per year can probably be done manually, handling 1000 or more requires either more human resources or full scale automation.  Benefits of automation would include not only speed and simplification of processing but transparency and blind processing where applicants can be assured of lack of bias in the processing of their applications.

Government’s Role

Today in Guyana, government leaders play a major role in attracting investment to Guyana.  A role which some argue should be automated and best left to the administrative entities within relevant Ministries and organizations.  For many potential investors and indeed many in the private sector today, the government can play a much more effective role in attracting investment by allocating resources in several other areas.  Crime control is obvious, so is maintenance of cities and parks, reducing the risk of flood damage through effective flood management schemes, providing affordable housing for her citizens, hiring the best employees and paying them well so that ideas for growth and development are extended beyond the limited ideas of Ministers and the “leaders” of organizations.

Most importantly however, the branding of Guyana internationally is a role which those in the private sector desperately need the government to lead.  Many private sector businesses; call centers, restaurants, tour companies, hotels, manufacturers and others could double or triple their business today if the Guyana brand was well known internationally.

Achieving this is not an insurmountable challenge.  An inexpensive start would be for GINA to begin issuing weekly press releases (PRNewswire) indicating every little achievement by the public and private sectors in Guyana… that “Guyana is open for business”, “Call center businesses thriving in Guyana”, “Government of Guyana invites technology investors to Guyana”, “Invest in Farming….”.  Many of these releases will be picked up by major news agencies internationally.  The world will begin to hear about Guyana as more than the home of Jim Jones and “fine-man”.

End monopolies and help to
strengthen the private sector

Former Jamaican Prime Minister, the honorable PJ Patterson in a recent address on the role of the Diaspora talked about a knowledge economy.  He stated that, “Over the last quarter-century, the global rate of knowledge creation, dissemination and use has increased significantly to the point that knowledge now governs the quantity and quality of socio-economic growth and change worldwide.   One reason for this is the rapid advances in information and communication technologies which have decreased costs of computing power and electronic networking.”  The government of Guyana has laudably removed the tariff on the importation of computers, but internet access remains elusive for many as the local phone monopoly continues to charge exorbitant rates for long distance calls and IP t-1 lines.  Lines which at peak cost $1500/ month in the USA, now as little of $300/month today, but cost businesses in Guyana $8,000 USD per month.

Monopolies are never good; they stifle innovation, keep prices high and in the medium to long term strangle economic development.  Given a free market, competition will arise and take care of monopolies.  The Diaspora also looks forward to a changing Guyana, one which aggressively welcomes the Diaspora to transfer more than just cash, but to transfer an exchange of business policies, market intelligence, ideas, and technology all for the mutual benefit of Guyana and her citizens both home and abroad.