By Brian A. Nichols, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs
Maleka Russell, a Guyanese alumna of the State Department’s Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative, owns an organic farm in Kwakwani that had major flooding in 2021, so Maleka decided to change her business to broiler production. Through the YLAI program, Maleka gained enough confidence to present herself to the President and the First Lady while they were shopping on Main Street during the Christmas holidays. She always remembers the slogan she learned in YLAI, “Don’t wait for change, create it”. The president invited her and her friends to his home to discuss their ideas, and she was subsequently named a director of the agricultural innovation and entrepreneurship program under the Ministry of Agriculture.
Together, we want to create more stories like hers. Too few aspiring change makers and entrepreneurs in the Americas can realize their dreams because inequitable public institutions, corruption, insecurity, poor healthcare, the effects of climate change, and limited access to financing stifle their ideas before they can get off the ground.
