BEING one of the apps to make it through the national pre-selection process of the World Summit Award (WSA) mobile selection process, Guyana’s Mobile Directory, www.oi.gy settled the race in the category ‘Mobile Business & Commerce’, and may soon rock the international stage.
What is Oi.gy?
Oi.gy is the first business directory service in Guyana designed specifically with mobile phone users in mind.
It is a web-based directory service that offers a mobile optimized website for users who access the service from their mobile phone, and it has a regular desktop version website for visitors using a computer.
Oi.gy also provides other useful information services to the consumer, which include Guyana’s airport flight schedules, key bridge opening/closing schedules, news headlines, events guides, and free end-user-contributed classified advertisements.
Access to all content is free of cost and unrestricted to end-users; however, businesses and organizations are charged a fee to have their telephone and other information listed.
The concept for the oi.gy directory service was formulated by Mr. Ajay Baksh of Perception Public Relations; and development of the website, database and other technical requirements for the directory service was done by David Goolsarran.
Oi.gy is headquartered at the office of Renaissance Marketing Agency at 219, Yubani Avenue, Eccles, EBD, and can be contacted on 592-233-2151 or 592-621-0812.

What is the World Summit Award?
This month (September), an international (panel) ‘jury’ of renowned IT experts and industry leaders will evaluate the nominated products under the auspices of the World Summit Award (WSA). ‘Jurors’ come from all continents, and have backgrounds in the following creative industries: Telecommunication, advertising, journalism and research, as well as in teaching. The ‘jurors’ also include representatives of international organisations in the ICT-for-development field.
Peter A. Bruck, Chairman of World Summit Award (WSA), states that, consequently, it is not a product’s commercial success that matters most for the ‘jury’ (panel). The ‘Grand Jury’ will judge the value of the content, as well as the product’s design and its technical realisation.
In addition, each nominee’s contribution to bridging the digital divide will play a central role in the jury’s consideration.
The goal of the WSA mobile selection process is to find out: a)what works in different markets and in different parts of the world; and b)what really makes a difference for the people in remote villages and global mega-cities.
The WSA desires to show decision makers what can be done to foster mobile (cell phone) communication’s potential to create a true information society.
For Guyana’s producers, the WSA mobile selection process is a chance to raise global awareness of their products, and to access the international arena.
Those projects that will feature most positively in the Jury’s decision will be invited to the WSA mobile selection process Winner’s Events, to be staged from February 3rd to 5th, 2013 in Abu Dhabi, the largest city in the United Arab Emirates.
The event will host an exhibition that offers a platform for the awardees to present their services and projects to potential partners and investors.
Additionally, the event will include a conference attended by renowned experts, opinion leaders and government representatives, placing Abu Dhabi in the hot spot of the mobile world.
Organised by International Center for New Media (ICNM) in Salzburg, Austria, the World Summit Award mobile selection is a global initiative within the framework of the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS).
The award takes place on a biannual basis, in collaboration with UNESCO, UNIDO, UNGAID and WSA-mobile’s key partner — Abu Dhabi Systems & Information Centre.