THIRTY-SIX students graduated last Saturday evening from the Master of Business Administration (MBA) programme offered by Nations University in collaboration with the Australian Institute of Business (AIB). The ceremony was held at the Guyana International Conference Centre at Liliendaal. 

This second batch of MBA graduating students represents a wide cross-section of the Guyanese business community, including senior personnel from government ministries, GuySuCo, Barama, Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), CARICOM and the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA).
Six received graduate certificates in Management, seven collected graduate diplomas in Management and 23 uplifted their MBA certificates.
Among the students, according to Dr. Brian O’Toole, Director of Nations University, are entrepreneurs and representatives from a range of private agencies.
At present, AIB is considering a number of projects for publication since the students are not simply ‘passing’ the MBA course but are contributing significantly to current thinking about issues in areas such as Strategic Management, Human Resource Development, Leadership and New Product Management.
Dr. O’Toole noted that the AIB has supported, encouraged and guided the process of developing the MBA programme at Nations University since Professor Rod Oxenberry, Academic Board Chairman of the AIB, came all the way from Australia to grace the occasion. He further noted that this is a clear indication of the commitment that AIB shows for their efforts in Guyana.
The graduation provided the opportunity to salute the team of MBA course facilitators at Nations University for their tremendous contributions – namely Celine Davis, Michele Johnson, Abraham Ogowewo, Ren Gonsalves, Vishnu Doerga, Colin Thompson, Ruth Lee, Ray Suknandan and Shonnet Moore.
Additionally, hearty appreciation was expressed for the contributions made by MBA facilitators Sheppard-Bobb, Kamla Rampersaud and Deon Grandison from Trinidad and Tobago.
Meanwhile, Mr. Ramesh Persaud, Chief Executive Officer, Institute of Private Enterprise Development (IPED) , the keynote speaker, focused on business-related hurdles and offered a lot of expert advice to the graduates.
Valedictorian Mrs. Lorraine Lord of the MBA class of 2014 spoke about each MBA graduate being an inspiration to others as they make decisions and take actions that will ensure the welfare of themselves and the country.

(By Shivanie Sugrim)