Understanding Energy – Supplier development forum key to building capacity

THERE must be a deliberate effort on the part of international oil-and-gas companies to engage local businesses and help build capacity if this notion of true local content is to be achieved. Equally, Guyanese businesses need to position themselves to take advantage of available opportunities.
In a previous column, Harnessing Guyana’s Greatest Resource, ongoing efforts by companies such as Exxon through investments such as the Centre for Local Business Development (CLBD), were commended.

The CLBD is promoted as having the objective to assist “Guyanese companies to better understand and access opportunities, primarily in the oil-and-gas sector, by improving their overall competitiveness.” It offers training, mentorship, professional networking and facilitating smart partnerships between local and international companies.
One of the events that supported this lofty goal was the “Supplier Development Forum,” which was first held in 2018 and was attended by 300 local companies.
So, it is pleasing to learn that despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the CLBD has managed to pull together a virtual supplier forum from February 1-5. The idea, according to media reports, is to provide a “platform for Guyanese suppliers to receive up-to-date information on the procurement process, key contacts, upcoming tenders and longer term directly from ExxonMobil Guyana and its leading prime contractors.”

ExxonMobil and its partners seemed to have recognised their responsibility to build capacity by sponsoring such an important event, especially with so many big projects on the horizon— Liza Phase 2, Payara, a potential fourth offshore project in Yellowtail and the gas-to-shore project. And of course, these future projects do not diminish the demands of existing projects such as the office complex in Ogle and the already producing Liza Phase 1.

More than 2,700 Guyanese have been invited to attend this event which has an interactive question-and-answer component. This means companies will have opportunities to engage Exxon and its prime contractors.

This type of exchange is crucial for local businesses. The head of the Private Sector Commission, Nicholas Boyer, told the Guyana Chronicle that Guyanese companies “need to learn what products and services they [ExxonMobil and its prime contractors] need and they need to learn what products and services we can provide. When we learn what they need, we can add capacity; when they learn what we can supply, we can talk about pricing, and timing of getting those services to them.”

But beyond this, businesses can recognise the gaps and learn exactly the kinds of steps needed to position themselves to make the right investment decisions. Perhaps, they will learn that they need more focus on Health, Safety, Security and Environment (HSSE) or ISO certification; or that they lack a certain capacity, so a strategic partnership might be the right step.
This can only be determined with the kind of engagement that the supplier forum facilitates or through broader engagement with the CLBD. And already companies are taking advantage of these services as indicated recently by the Director, Natasha Gaskin Peters.

The supplier forum, whether virtually or in person, is undeniably an important event that will contribute to a steady development of Guyanese and should be sustained.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE :
Facebook
Twitter
WhatsApp
All our printed editions are available online
emblem3
Subscribe to the Guyana Chronicle.
Sign up to receive news and updates.
We respect your privacy.