-Minister Baksh urges the delivery of a pool of creative and innovative business leaders to transform Guyana
The University of the West Indies (UWI) Arther Loc Jack Graduate School of Business Wednesday officially launched its Executive Master’s in Business Administration (EMBA) programme here, with the aim of strengthening leadership capacity in both the private and public sectors. The well-attended occasion was held at the Duke Lodge in Kingston, Georgetown , the venue where the two year-programme that targets company executives will beheld.

Addressing the gathering which included the Business School’s Marketing Strategy Director, Mr. Angel Alxarado and Executive Director, Professor Miguel Carrillo, Education Minister Shaik Baksh welcomed the programme and underlined that access, quality assurance and relevance to the local business environment will determine its success.

Baksh acknowledged that though the programme caters for these needs, the graduate school must deliver on these expectations.

An important point to note, he observed, is that the ready availability of the programme will reduce the number of local students who go abroad to pursue their EMBA. 

Baksh, in noting his optimism of the initiative, lauded the face-to-face mode that will be employed in the delivery of the programme, pointing out that this will be beneficial in terms of curriculum and pedagogical innovations.

“What the programme will be doing is creating a new core of business leaders in Guyana, that will assist in transforming Guyana and the economy, and this is vital, Baksh underlined

He underscored too the need for innovative partnerships both with the private and public sectors to buy into the programme, and encouraged the UWI Graduate Business School to work in partnership with the University of Guyana.

UG is already offering an Executive Master’s in Business Administration and another in Public Administration.

Professor Carrillo, in a presentation titled “Bringing innovation to the Caribbean”, said Guyana is better positioned than her South American neighbours to accelerate growth and development.

The thrust of the programme, he explained, is to make this potential a reality and in so doing, bring out the “hidden gem” in the Guyanese people.

The Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business (formerly the UWI Institute of Business) was established in 1989 as a joint venture between The University of the West Indies and the private sector of Trinidad and Tobago, to provide postgraduate education in business and management.

The premier institution for the provision of business and management education, training and consultancy services in Trinidad and Tobago and the wider Caribbean region, has been working with local companies for the past 15 years.   

The school is internationally recognized, and works in close partnership with several of the world’s leading universities, including Harvard University in the USA and Cambridge University in the United Kingdom.

To date, the institute has produced more than 1,000 graduates and more than 19,000 people have received training in its executive and professional programmes.