-highlight diversification, wider entrepreneurial opportunities with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State

GUYANA’s entrepreneurs continue to call for improved collaboration and economic diversification, most recently at a Wednesday lunch meet up where Deputy Secretary of State, Christopher Landau, met with Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative (YLAI) alumni to mark a decade of the U.S. exchange programme’s presence in Guyana.

The occasion brought together entrepreneurs Abbigale Loncke-Watson, Junior Rameklawan, Evie Gurchuran and Brian Smith.

Speaking to the Guyana Chronicle following the engagement, Loncke-Watson said the discussion highlighted expanding partnerships beyond oil and gas among other opportunities and challenges facing Guyana’s business sector.

Loncke-Watson joined YLAI’s pilot cohort in 2016. She said the training and networks built through the programme helped her expand into multiple businesses, and inspired her to found We Lead Association, an NGO supporting women entrepreneurs in Guyana.

“Over the last 10 years, I have been able to use the training and everything that we’ve gathered from YLAI to help me in business. I not only have the home care agency, I have multiple businesses spanning different industries in Guyana,” she said.

She pointed to cohort members whose businesses have also grown substantially, adding, “There are lots of standout companies. They have a huge connection with their U.S. counterparts, businesses they have stayed with, who they were mentored with, and come back and grow the business tenfold.”

Loncke-Watson said the discussion with Landau centred largely on the Embassy’s role in supporting entrepreneurs locally, with alumni serving as an informal link to the U.S. even as ambassadors rotate through the post every few years.

“A lot of the discussion stemmed from doing business in Guyana, the support from the embassy, what role does the embassy play from the programme on the ground here,” she said adding, “We are still local ambassadors for the U.S. and for the programmes that are happening in the U.S. Creating that partnership and those synergies with the U.S. embassy and also U.S. companies are very important.”

Additionally, Loncke-Watson noted that the Embassy reiterated its openness to working with Guyanese businesses in every sector, noting, “The U.S. embassy and the U.S. government are open to partnering with Guyanese and local Guyanese businesses. We are always encouraged to send any interest that we may have, any sector, not just oil and gas, but any sector that you may be interested in,” she said.

Loncke-Watson also renewed her call for greater Guyanese participation in YLAI, noting that larger Latin American countries such as Brazil send far more delegates each year. “I do want to see more Guyanese participation. Every year, some Latin American countries, like Brazil, send over 20, 30 people. I know their population is bigger than ours, but it is important for Guyanese, especially young Guyanese, these are opportunities that are available, and available for free,” she said.

Loncke-Watson said the programme also facilitates business matchmaking, letting participants identify partners before they travel and pairing them with host companies and mentors in the U.S. “By the time you finish with your six weeks, you would have already met 90 per cent of the people who you want to meet you, and the onus now is on you to create those collaborations,” she said.

The programme selects more than 200 participants from Latin America and the Caribbean annually, with applications opening a year in advance. As Loncke-Watson noted, 2027 participants have already been chosen with the 2028 intake expected soon.

Looking ahead, Loncke-Watson said she wants more Guyanese entrepreneurs, across a wider range of industries, to take part in the programme. To better foster collaboration and inform young entrepreneurs about this and similar opportunities, Loncke-Watson noted that this year will see a YLAI 10-year anniversary celebration aimed at connecting with people who need support for their business.

“We need more individuals going to the programme. We need more individuals understanding the benefits of the programme, and across different industries, not just oil and gas,” she said before adding, “We need it to be varied industries, and to bring back those collaborations here in Guyana, bring back those companies that they have worked with, and for us to be able to expand on that.”