— nurturing the next generation of global thinkers

PROJECT developer of the Guyana Speakers and Leadership Academy, Gary Thompson believes that Guyana will soon see the development of young minds in a way that will empower them to become world class teachers, speakers, debaters and leaders.The programme was launched on February 17 by the Pyramid Networks Consultancy Firm, under Thompson’s leadership, with the intention to “nurture the next generation of global thinkers, who will be passionate about positively influence our world.”
The idea for the Academy was 12 years in the making, and came from Thompson’s many years in teaching, mentorship and coaching, and the realisation, through his experience, of the need to enhance the leadership capabilities of young people through training and mentorship.
“In Guyana, we have seen a major deficit in the area of leadership,” Thompson said, adding: “And in the private sector, we have been discussing this issue for many years, but we haven’t done anything to significantly address it.”

MAIN AIMS
One of the main aims of the Academy, therefore, is to produce leaders who can speak and debate effectively, with special focus on teaching young people, using methods that will help them to have a clear vision of what they want to achieve in the future.
“The programme is designed to help teachers to understand they are interfacing with a human capital that has untapped potential. And they need to first recognise that, and that as teachers, they have to become motivators, so that they can nurture young people’s development,” Thompson said.
The teachers will, therefore, have access to a system of monitoring, evaluating and controlling the learning environment so that they will be able to lay the foundation in the minds of young people about their importance in building a better future.
“We believe that, once the teachers are laying that foundation; having young people to inculcate early in their lives that they are the ones who will be the great entrepreneurs, the children grow, through school and into the world of work, with a mindset to move the private and public sectors forward so we can grow,” he said.

TWO COMPONENTS
The programme will be rolled out in two components. On the one hand, candidates will be introduced to a Toastmasters Programme, which will provide them competent communication and leadership training. This component is aimed at helping candidtes become better speakers, debaters and leaders.
The second component, which involves transformational leadership and includes 13 business modules, will teach them to become global thinkers, social actors and transformational leaders.
“A lot of people,” Thompson said, “are bright, but being bright doesn’t make you a leader. So, through these components, you will learn self-knowledge, self-confidence and self-application.”
He admits that he’s spent lots of time on researching for this programme, so as to come up with a suitable structure, aimed at promoting a new generation of global leaders.
“It took me about 12 years of research, both primary and secondary, about issues being raised, and I think this is the opportune time to bring it out,” he said.
He added that the programme is intended to open up opportunities not being utilised by young people that could help them to reach their highest potential.
“Guyana has a lot of partial-scope agreements with several countries, but my belief is that Guyanese are not utilising those opportunities effectively,” Thompson said.
As such, he feels that the Guyana Speakers and Leadership Academy will start to help the “human factors” to understand these opportunities, which will, in turn, ensure that human development in the areas of employment opportunities, product diversification, growth of economy and other aspects are increased.
Since the Academy’s launch in February, Thompson has been in discussion with institutions such as the Cyril Potter College and other bodies, so as to enlist its first set of recruits.
Each programme runs for a year, and includes 196 contact hours, 700 mentorship hours, and 288 project hours.