With oil and gas production leading activities in Guyana’s economy in the last decade, thousands of Guyanese in Europe, North America, the Caribbean, and elsewhere have been either returning home to resettle or flying in to take a peek at the rapid pace of developments, including some who have never visited even once since leaving decades ago.
Many say they have read about domestic and international reports of the economic transformation, mainly away from traditional dependence on rice, gold, sugar, bauxite, and timber to a booming oil and gas sector that contributes nearly $8 million to the central bank each day.
Aware of the growing desire for fact-finding among the North American diaspora, an upstart entrepreneur from Georgia will again bring up to 150 people to the country for a four-day business and investment conference.
That conference will include bus rides to critical developments, interactions with top government and business officials, and opportunities to connect with friends and family who have remained at home, enduring the hardships as well as the rewards.
Behind the Oct. 18-22 Destination Guyana Now, Business and Investment Conference is Stacey Mollison, a Guyana-born international entrepreneur, president and CEO of Libra Management Group, who has been bringing large groups of Guyanese diasporans from Georgia for the past six years.
She said investment opportunities are abundant in Guyana, but many have complained about difficulties navigating the Guyana economic scene, so she is organizing a one-stop chance “to understand the lay of the land. What we have found is that many of the older folks left 30-40 years ago and have disengaged completely. They have done a poor job in maintaining links with Guyana, so this is an effort to change the whole paradigm and the diaspora’s understanding of what is going on. We are aiming to bring between 100-150 people to visit and see this time,” she told this publication recently. “It is destination Guyana now. We can’t wait.”
Mollison said that her group has also deliberately targeted the children of those who have disengaged, noting that she has detected a fair amount of excitement from the youngsters, so we are targeting them as well.
The conference will allow for direct engagements with the business community, the American embassy, and government officials. The highlight of the meeting is a bus tour towards the end “to understand the lay of the land. We create a deeper sense of collaboration when you physically see the tangible growth. We are bringing mostly mid-50s and below, like from 21-age to 65, and a lot who are coming are not even Guyanese. This is amazing. The oil companies have pledged to attend and talk to us about procurement, real estate opportunities, mining, the non-oil sector, and everything else,” said Mollison.
