Award Winning Entrepreneur, Commonwealth Business Woman Ambassador, Managing Director, GeoTechVision
In late November 2015, I was invited to be a judge in the Business Pitch Competition right here in Guyana. The competition caused me to reflect on the fact that being an entrepreneur is not an easy task. A few weeks ago, I hosted a leadership seminar titled ‘What Will You Change This Year?’ At that seminar many business leaders saw this new year as an opportunity to reinvent themselves and go after their truest desires, dreams and goals, and they committed to this. Just this week at the Billionaire Tour hosted by Action Coach, over 600 Guyanese gathered to hear Brad Sugars speak
about strategies, philosophies and steps they can take in this market to make their dreams and goals a reality. These activities all led to me thinking, ‘What’s next for these young Guyanese who participated in the Business Pitch Competition?’ Indeed, even more broadly, what are the next steps for anyone who wishes to venture out as an entrepreneur in Guyana? How can we contribute to the Entrepreneurial ecosystem? This week I write to you on creating a culture of entrepreneurship in Guyana.
Without a doubt building a culture that encourages entrepreneurial behaviour is challenging but absolutely necessary, as entrepreneurship is the engine for job creation, innovation and economic growth. A nation experiencing economic prosperity creates well-being for its citizens both directly and indirectly through access to better public services and amenities – better health services, better road infrastructure, better education, etc. Government policies that encourage entrepreneurship are therefore an absolute must. Having a clear understanding of the economics of entrepreneurship is therefore critical to unleashing the potential of the Guyanese people to create, innovate and provide solutions that meet the needs of the public. Having this kind of understanding will close the gap between the number of Guyanese who dream of starting their own business and those who actually do.
In addition to the right policy framework, there is also a great need to train the next generation of entrepreneurial leaders (yes, indeed, training is required as entrepreneurial leaders are not born), build programmes that
