Businessman Peter Ramsaroop is the new investment czar. His appointment was confirmed yesterday.
His title will be that of CEO of the Guyana Office of Foreign and Local Investment and Chief Investment Officer for Guyana.
Contacted yesterday for a comment on his appointment, Ramsaroop told Stabroek News “As our President, Dr. (Irfaan) Ali said in his Inauguration speech, `We want to build a Guyana that is ripe with business opportunities, humming with employment expansion and growing perennially in prosperity’.
“We all believe Guyana’s future is bright and we are truly open for business. Our focus is to be successful in attracting both Foreign Direct Investment and especially Local Direct Investment. We will balance our approach to facilitate that our local entities get the opportunities to build capabilities and capacity and our employment numbers rise in order for our people see a better career progression and earned higher income. There are literally hundreds of companies from around the world wanting to come into Guyana in addition to an increase in bilateral funding. I see us quickly doing a Gap Analysis on the Sectoral Investment needed such as in Agriculture, Tourism, and Infrastructure so we can attract and guide the investors in addition to matching them with our local providers. In addition, high-value industries such as ICT (Information and Communication Technology) that could create excellent and highly paid jobs.
“Our initial focus will also be analyzing what policies, what infrastructure bottlenecks, supply chain issues, workforce deficiencies are keeping investors from being productive in Guyana.
“As the Chief Investment Officer for Guyana, my goal is to work with all our Government agencies and the Private Sector to make our slogan a reality `Guyana is Open for Business’ and I will add `Come Grow with Us’.
Ramsaroop recently served as the Economic Advisor to the former President and Current Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo.
He holds a Ph.D. in Management and Public Policy and an MBA with emphasis in economics and technology from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He also has two Associates degrees and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Finance/Management from Park University, Parkville, Missouri.
Ramsaroop has held senior executive positions including Chairman of Evolvent Inc., a leading Cyber Security Company in Washington DC. He remigrated to Guyana in 2004 and served as Chairman and CEO of RoopGroup Investments.
