The University of Guyana hosted its first Virtual Entrepreneurship Month Speaker Event on November 17, 2022, for the School of Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation in light of Global Entrepreneurship Week, a global celebration of entrepreneurship that takes place during the second week of November (November 14-20, 2022).

The virtual event featured presentations from a variety of organizations that offer entrepreneurial assistance, including but not limited to: the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), the Institute of Private Enterprise Development (IPED), and Gurchuran Investment Inc.

Presenting at the event, GCCI’s operations coordinator Ambika Ramraj provided a synopsis of the Chamber’s mandate and commitment to private sector development along with opportunities available for entrepreneurs at the chamber.

She highlighted Initiatives led by the GCCI to support entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs including Mentorship/networking; where entrepreneurs are paired with well-established companies and given the opportunity to gain experience, the Business development forum; a forum that provides key insights on how to establish and advance business, The Vision Fund Grant; an opportunity for entrepreneurs to submit their business proposals to the Chamber for a chance to be awarded a grant sum of $300,000 in funding and finally Capacity building of small business at the *National Small Business Week where small businesses operations across any sector can take advantage of the opportunity to showcase their products and network.

Subsequently, GCCI Councilor & Chair of the Entrepreneurship & Small Business committee, Mrs. Evie Kanhai Gurcharan (CEO of Gurcharan Investment Inc.), shared not only her experience as an entrepreneur but also spoke about approaches to entrepreneurship. By introducing the “Lean start-up method” to Micro and Small Business Owners, Mrs. Gurchuran encouraged participants to use what they already have, i.e., who they are, what they know and who they know, as a resource or means to get their business idea off the ground.

The GCCI’s contributions followed presentations by the Vice Chancellor of the University of Guyana, Dr. Paloma Mohamed-Martin, University lecturer, Dr. Patsy Francis and Mr. Robert Williams, IPED’s credit manager.

The details of their presentations are as follows:

Vice Chancellor of the University of Guyana, Dr. Paloma Mohamed-Martin in her address to students, said that Entrepreneurship plays a significant role in addressing the growing unemployment rates among young people – “Entrepreneurship is a way out of that crisis”.

Expounding on the importance of Entrepreneurship Week, she mentioned that sixty percent (60%) of university students are younger than thirty-five (35) and the unemployment rate among these students and others in Guyana is fairly high. The Vice-Chancellor gave all assurances that the University will play its part to help students succeed as entrepreneurs.

Also addressing students, Dr. Patsy Francis, a lecturer at the University, explained that work is underway to transform the entire university into a place where research and innovation can take place. She also emphasized the importance of synergy across departments to encourage cross-faculty cooperation. She also highlighted a ‘Compliance workshop’ that was recently held to help individuals take their products more marketable.

IPED’s credit manager, Robert Williams, introduced the non-governmental organization to students and as an entrepreneur-friendly business said, “If there is any institution that truly represents th e roots of entrepreneurship, it is IPED”. He further shared that IPED provides finance and advisory services to small and micro business entrepreneurs enabling them to build sustainable enterprises.