Inaugural Entrepreneurship Conference

Government ready to support Creative Industries

Minister of Business, Dominic Gaskin reiterated the government’s readiness to play a part in encouraging developments within the creative industry.

He was at the time addressing concerns raised at the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Conference on May 22 at the Ramada Hotel, Providence. Minister Gaskin opined that advances in the creative industries can be achieved with the help of individuals and companies already involved in those areas.

“They need to form themselves into an organisation that can then promote the development of those industries, and the government will support such initiatives,” Minister Gaskin assured.

The minister added that it is through such engagements that the areas, where the government can play a role, are identified. He noted for example, that through tax incentives and other types of enticement, the government can help promote and develop those industries that have been neglected for a number of years,

Over 700 million dollars was allocated in the National Budget for Cultural Preservation and Conservation under the Department of Social Cohesion, to construct the Institute of Creative Arts which aims to boost the creative industries in Guyana.

The Institute of Creative Arts seeks to empower artists and artistes through training for specific occupational roles in the creative sector. The academic units in the institute include the National School of Dance, the E.R Burrowes School of Arts, the National School of Music, and the National School of Theatre Arts and Drama.

Locals in the creative sector have been making the spotlights on the international scene. These include Award winning US-based Guyanese filmmaker, writer and director Mason Richards and Filmmaker Yaphet Jackman to name a few.

Article adapted from: http://dpi.gov.gy/government-ready-to-support-creative-industries/

US group to fund UG's business school innovation prize

The US-based philanthropic organization, the Guyana Economic Development Trust is partnering with the School of Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation (SEBI) of the University of Guyana (UG) to provide funding for an annual Guyana Innovation Prize to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship.

The organisation’s founder Oslene Carrington told Stabroek News yesterday “Several tens of thousands of US dollars are on the table for them to grow their businesses”.

Carrington, who made a presentation during one of the sessions at the SEBI Inaugural Entrepreneurial Conference 2018 held over the past three days at the Ramada (Georgetown) Princess Hotel, at Providence, told Stabroek News yesterday that soon the Guyana Innovation Prize will award students, faculty and alumni who are engaged in innovative projects and innovative research that is connected to technology and agro-processing.

Eligible candidates for funding will be selected from applicants who presented their ideas at UG’s undergraduate conferences held in 2017 and 2018. Eight to ten projects with working ideas which have been tested, she said, are ready for further evaluation.

“They are phenomenal ideas and if they are funded, they can actually generate new products and services that are made in Guyana and can be stamped as ‘Made in Guyana,’” she said.

Those evaluating the projects, she noted, are seasoned bankers, technologists and academics.

“All of us have had businesses, or currently have businesses. We will fund those business ideas based on our collective agreement and provide mentoring and support to those businesses to the point where those students can go and seek out equity financing, and loans and so forth to grow them even further,” she noted.

The Guyana-born Carrington, a banker and an academic, further said, “Those ideas could then become companies that employ people. We have young people who are really smart with great research ideas. Converting those ideas into businesses can enable them to become fully employed and to employ other people. That is the aim of the Guyana Innovation Prize.”

Giving a background to the founding of the trust, Carrington, who left Guyana for the US at six years, said ten Guyanese, of whom seven are based in the US and three in Georgetown, are its board members.

Article adapted from: https://www.stabroeknews.com/2018/news/guyana/05/23/us-group-to-fund-ugs-business-school-innovation-prize/

UG School of Business opens innovation conference

An Entrepreneurship and Innovation Conference was opened yesterday, providing members in the local business arena an opportunity to network with their international counterparts.

Dean of the UG School of Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation (SEBI), Professor Leyland Lucas said, according to the Department of Public Information, that the conference stemmed from conversations among stakeholders, on the  tools needed to boost and transform free enterprise in Guyana.

“Everybody is talking about entrepreneurship, but do we really understand some of the dynamics that are important to entrepreneurship. We thought we needed to put on this conference to be more than just a talk shop,” Professor Lucas said.

Established businesses, budding entrepreneurs, students and academics are among those participating.

University of Guyana’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ivelaw Griffith said the forum provides a more hands-on outlook.  “The annual conference will not only be conversations, dreaming and doing of entrepreneurship. They will be setting the stage as part of SEBI celebrating entrepreneurs.”

The two-day event at the Ramada Princess Hotel will include panel discussions and the presentations of papers.

Article adapted from: https://www.stabroeknews.com/2018/photos/05/22/ug-school-of-business-opens-innovation-conference/

SEBI to host Inaugural Entrepreneurship and Innovation Conference

The School of Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation (SEBI), University of Guyana, is set to host its first Entrepreneurship and Innovation Conference titled Economic Transformation through Entrepreneurship & Innovation.”

The conference will be held from May 20-22 at the Ramada Georgetown Princess Hotel. The event is intended to bring together academic scholars, practitioners, and policy-makers to examine how entrepreneurship has and can continue to support economic transformation in a developing economy. The conference will provide an opportunity to share knowledge and experiences of researchers and practitioners in understanding the importance of entrepreneurship to the future of Guyana.

The event is a collaboration between SEBI, the Ministry of Business and Small Business Bureau. Several public and private entities have shown their support for the conference through sponsorship; among those are telephone giant Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company, Institute of Private Enterprise Development, Ground Structure Engineering and Consultants Inc, Grace Kennedy, Go Invest, Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry Limited, Caribbean Containers, Republic Bank, Bazilio Cobb Associates, Exxon Mobil Guyana, Ministry of Business, Small Business Bureau, Demerara Bank, WT George & Co. and Ministry of Education.

The SEBI Inaugural Entrepreneurship and Innovation Conference will not only set the environment to advance discussions around entrepreneurship and innovation, it will also give local entrepreneurs the opportunity to exhibit their products and services, and a Business Pitch Competition has also been added to the programme.

Registration for the conference can be done at the UG Bursary, Berbice Campus, Citizens Bank or online at entrepreneurshipconference.uog.edu.gy

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Contact SEBI on:

Tel. #: 592-222-4932 / 592-623-0926

Email: sebi@uog.edu.gy

UG IN BRIEF

With a current enrollment of some 8,000 students, The University of Guyana (UG) has graduated more than 20,000 students who have gone on to successful careers locally, regionally and internationally. The University is also a major contributor to the national economy and to business and industry. Established in 1963 on a part-time basis with shared space at Queens College, UG moved to its own campus at Turkeyen in 1970 and expanded in 2000 with the addition of the Tain Campus. It now offers more than 60 Under-graduate and Post-graduate Programmes including Engineering, Environmental Studies, Forestry, Urban Planning and Management, Business, Entrepreneurship, Tourism Studies, Education, Creative Arts, Economics, Law, Medicine, Optometry and Nursing. Several online programmes are available and UG also offers extra-mural classes at four locations through its Institute of Distance and Continuing Education (IDCE). The UG also offers the opportunity for student engagement in debating, sports, and cultural, religious and professional activities.

Public Relations Division
May 15, 2018

MOPT is mulling development of animation industry

The Ministry of Public Telecommunications is examining the further development of an animation industry in Guyana.

This was disclosed, today Minister Cathy Hughes at the inaugural Entrepreneurship and Innovation Conference.

The Minister told the gathering that the development of an animation industry will provide further investment opportunities for the country and will also foster new entrepreneurs and employment opportunities.

She said the government will be networking with relevant stakeholders to build synergy for the development of the industry since the animation industry has increased significantly across the Caribbean.

“We are looking at opportunities to ensure budding entrepreneurs are given opportunities to develop ourselves in the animation market … the opportunities to garner international business is real and possible and we think here our labour cost makes an advantage for us to be able to compete in a worldwide market compared to those in the industry.”

According to the minister, there is currently a small privately-owned animation studio called Animax which began in 2013 providing 15 to 16 seats for showings. The ministry has already funded three persons involved in local animation network for training in Suriname.

Article adapted from: http://dpi.gov.gy/mopt-is-mulling-development-of-animation-industry/

UG School of Business hosting inaugural entrepreneurship forum

A significant step in the direction of forging the long sought closer ties between the University of Guyana and the country’s business community will be taken this weekend when the university’s recently established School of Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation (SEBI) commences its first ever Entrepreneurship   and Innovation Conference under the theme “Economic Transformation through Entrepreneurship   & Innovation.”

The Conference, which will held from May 20 to May 22 at the Ramada George-town Princess Hotel gives effect to an undertaking given by UG Vice Chancellor, Professor Ivelaw Griffith during an extended interview with the Stabroek Business some months ago that he was aiming to have SEBI play a role in creating meaningful linkages between UG and the local business community.

SEBI was launched in July last year by Vice Chancellor Griffith who said at the opening that the institution was geared towards providing the nation with the entrepreneurial and business requirements it needs to develop, equip and certify persons in both the public and private sectors.

Earlier attempts to develop ties between UG and the business community had been limited largely to contributions of gifts to University by private sector entities. The establishment of SEBI had been preceded by consultations between UG and various interest groups including the private sector.

 SEBI envisages the delivery of a curriculum that embraces elements of the liberal arts, critical thinking, foreign languages, business simulations and case studies. The SEBI Faculty draws on the skills and experiences of local business leaders.

While the forum is a collaborative initiative that involves the university and a number of state agencies including the Ministry of Business and the Small Business Bureau, Turkeyen can claim considerable credit from the extent to which it has pressed the private sector into service in support of the forum. A statement issued by the conference secretariat lists no less than a dozen private sector entities including the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph  Company,  (GTT), ExxonMobil, the Institute  of  Private  Enterprise  Development and several local commercial banks as partners in the this weekend’s initiative.

“The  SEBI  Inaugural  Entrepreneurship  and Innovation  Conference  will  not  only  set  the environment  to  advance discussions around entrepreneurship and innovation, it will also give local entrepreneurs the opportunity to exhibit their products and services,” the statement from the conference secretariat said.

Both public and private sector observers will also be mindful of the fact that the forum has attracted a number of distinguished speakers and panelists, including Guyanese residing in the diaspora. The Conference, the statement says, will bring together “academic  scholars,  practitioners,  and  policy-makers  to  examine  how  entrepreneurship  has and  can continue to support economic transformation in a developing economy.” It will also “provide an opportunity to   share   knowledge   and  experiences   of   researchers   and   practitioners  in   understanding   the   importance   of entrepreneurship to the future of Guyana.”

As much as anything else this weekend’s event will provide a yardstick with which to measure SEBI’s capacity to deliver on its promise to create a working partnership between the public and private sectors. Among the commitments made by SEBI was that it would provide a facility that would serve both to develop the capabilities of serving entrepreneurs as well as to cater to the more formal training needs of employees holding positions in private sector institutions.

When Stabroek Business visited SEBI earlier this year classes also included several students pursuing formal degree programmes at UG.

Article adapted from: https://www.stabroeknews.com/2018/business/05/18/ug-school-of-business-hosting-inaugural-entrepreneurship-forum/