THE Private Sector Commission (PSC), in collaboration with the Caribbean Corporate Governance Institute (CCGI), is hosting a breakfast seminar today for the refining of corporate governance in local organisations.

The seminar is taking place at the Marriott Hotel where over 40 attendees have already registered. The seminar is being held under the theme: ‘The Role of the Director in Good Governance: Leading with a Progressive Prospective’.

This high-level seminar marks the first of several events to come, following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the PSC and the CCGI in April of this year.
Corporate Governance is defined as the decision-making processes within an organisation which guide internal and external relations; roles and the structure within a company.
Delivering opening remarks at a press briefing on Tuesday, PSC vice-chairman, Desmond Sears established the private sector’s position on corporate governance and its importance to the country.

“The PSC remains committed to addressing national issues and influencing policies that promote socio-economic growth and development in Guyana. Corporate governance is one such issue that the commission wishes to bring to our corporate entities,” Sears said.
Meanwhile, Executive Member of the PSC, Ramesh Dookhoo, said that although Guyana is in a relatively good place when it comes to the topic, the country must not become complacent.

“The structures that we have in Guyana, they’re very evolved … Guyana has a strong infrastructure in place but we believe that the training to nourish that infrastructure and to make it work is always necessary and ongoing.
“We need to keep doing it because people die, boards change, governments change and they change boards, so it is important that we target new directors, people who need retraining (and) people who can benefit from rebooting the whole thought process of corporate governance,” Dookhoo explained.

In July, the PSC and CCGI plan to host a seminar targeting family-owned enterprises and, in October, a workshop geared towards state-owned enterprises, which Dookhoo hopes the relevant parties will support.
Speaking further on the matter, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the CCGI, Denise Deonarine said:

“Those are two key stakeholders in any economy. Family-owned businesses really drive growth in an economy and it is something that we see as a common trend; so that’s why we found that it was essential for us to engage those businesses and help them to move from the second generation to the third generation which is where they might have some challenges with succession planning.”

The keynote speaker of the seminar is Alison Kibirige, a global expert on corporate governance and who has worked for 25 years with both private and public sectors across several industries.

The CCGI is a non-profit organisation founded in 2012 and aimed at assisting other entities within the Caribbean in improving their corporate governance practices.