– commits to supporting youth development

VETERAN geotechnical engineer Charles Ceres on Saturday opened a new office at Liliendaal as he celebrated the 25th Anniversary of Ground Structures Engineering Consultants Inc (GSEC), a company he built from scratch.

Pegged at US$8M, the GSEC office will house a staff of 33 persons, as it continues to nurture young people to ensure they are responsive to the development thrust of Guyana. The company provides services in geotechnical engineering and groundwater hydrology, in addition to environmental compliance.

On Saturday, Vice-President and Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Greenidge joined Ceres and his family and friends to commission the multimillion-dollar facility, which will be a training ground for engineers in the field of geo-technology and groundwater hydrology.
In delivering the keynote address, Minister Greenidge underscored the importance of nurturing a country’s human resource intellectual capital at all levels of society. He said it was that support that Ceres received that allowed him to enter the private sector, “undertake, establish, run and maintain” a business for 25 years. Ceres, he added, has not only maintained the business, but has adapted to changing technology in a field that is rapidly evolving.

“I am pleased, very much pleased to see the extent to which Charles [Ceres] in setting up his business seems to bring youth, relatives, other skills into the enterprise, so that it can remain vibrant and relevant,” Minister Greenidge posited.

Noting that economists are recognising that skill-intensive services are critical to development of countries such as Guyana, the foreign affairs minister said grooming of human resource skills have become even more important for the mastering of industries, and Ceres has done just that.

“You are looking at a man who has taken a set of highly technical skills, packaged them into an enterprise, into a business, and is seeking to utilise those human resource skills to sell data, analysis of data and other forms of analysis and information to enterprises… involved in building banks…as well as building power stations…ensuring that civil work is done in an adequate fashion,” Minister Greenidge pointed out.
Ceres, who was hailed by Romanex Guyana Exploration Limited, Guyana Goldfields and Fugro, as a man of impeccable professional character, told those present that he developed his company 25 years ago on February 27 after recognising that it was critical for the country to develop an engineering culture.

YOUTH DEVELOPMENT
Ceres said the company in fulfilling its commitment to Guyana places major emphasis on youth development in the field of engineering.

“We only ask that they be self-starters and demonstrate a sense of humility. Humility is important, since it recognises that knowledge is not something over which we are granted exclusive domain. Knowledge is something which we are responsible to share with others, including colleagues and clients. Humility also creates a thirst for additional knowledge, because we fear failure and the associated consequences,” he explained.
Over the 25 years, Ceres posited that GSEC has directly expanded the horizons of engineers in areas of geotechnical engineering.

“Our staff members are the only persons in Guyana who have been introduced to the intricacies of numerical modelling of groundwater flow and contaminant transport. We plan to expose additional members of our staff to surface-water flow and transport and air-quality modelling to address the immediate needs of our practice,” the veteran engineer pointed out.

He added: “We have provided soils and materials laboratory training for young Guyanese in a state-of-the-art soils and materials laboratory to the extent that we have provided support on most major projects in Guyana, starting with Skeldon II and including Amaila Falls, Guyana Goldfields, Sandspring Resources, Huawei 4-G Project and the Cheddi Jagan Airport expansion.”
Some of these young professionals, he further pointed out, have had the privilege of working on projects in the Gulf of Mexico and on the East Coast of the U.S., in addition to the Caribbean. On Sunday, three staff members were dispatched to Houston, Texas, for additional training.

SUPPORT
But Ceres made it clear that the success of his company would not have been possible without the support of his family and friends. After achieving the ‘American Dream’, Ceres and his two sons Abdel and Assad returned to Guyana to start all over again.

“One element of that desire was to not be residing outside of Guyana on my 40th birthday. Another was the sense of being Guyanese and contributing to Guyana’s development, motivated by the vision of Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham who, like all individuals, myself included, was not without his faults. It also includes the vision of the now deceased Haslyn Parris, who granted me authority as a 26-year- old to start a geotechnical services department at the then Guyana Bauxite Company,” he told his audience.
Being from Springlands, Berbice, is also critical to the success of Ground Structures, he added, noting that some in the U.S. had criticised his decision.

“These persons were unaware of the strengths I possessed, instilled in me by people from Springlands, Corentyne, Berbice. Some of these people are here today and I wish to thank them and to recognise them for those strengths. Uncle Ernest and Auntie Norma, teacher Joyce then (granny now), Ms Doreen Ferdinand (Auntie Doreen). We would not be here today if I was not nurtured and influenced by you. You represent the people of that small but loving village and I would like to thank you. Shine rice and tilapia work, as my good friend and fellow countryman Keith Lowenfield can verify,” he pointed out.

His company’s success is a result of both assistance and adversity, Ceres said, noting that adversity being probably the greatest motivator of all.