Bring your skills and invest – Ashni Singh to diaspora

…calls on businesses to seek ways to innovate, create partnerships

Finance Minister, Dr Ashni Singh on Monday urged members of the diaspora thinking of returning to Guyana, to identify and put their skills to use when investing and contributing to Guyana’s economic growth.
Dr Singh made these remarks at the opening of shipping company Laparkan’s Technology Expo at the Pegasus Conference Centre. The expo featured Canon Innovation & Imaging Solutions products and technologies. Seminars and image innovation demonstrations were also held.

Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh at the expo

The occasion is also Laparkan’s 40th Anniversary and as such, the Finance Minister was on hand to give the feature address. He explained that members of the diaspora often ask him what opportunities are available in Guyana.
While a general overview of the opportunities can be readily supplied, the Finance Minister also called on the diaspora to consider the skills they have, as well as other factors, in deciding what areas to invest in Guyana. This is something he noted must be done at an individual level.
“Oftentimes I have conversations with people in the diaspora who want to participate in what’s happening in Guyana. And we have conversations and they want to know, well what can I do? And I always say to them. You have to know what you are good at. You have to know what your own skills and comparative advantages are.”
“You have to know what your own risk appetite is. And you have to put your skills and comparative advantages at work for you. I can’t tell you what the best opportunities are, because I don’t know what you’re good at, I don’t know what your skills are… each entrepreneur, whether in the diaspora or at home, really has to identify what their unique and peculiar skills are and what their interests are. And convert those into an opportunity and successful business.”

Increase a business’s value
According to Dr Singh, the Laparkan/Canon partnership is a prime example of how partnerships can increase a business’s value. He also used Laparkan as an example of the need for the private sector to diversify their operations and increase efficiency.
“We saw Laparkan grow and diversify into a number of other things. And that too is a lesson for entrepreneurs operating in Guyana. Having started a business in one particular line of activity, Laparkan did not rest on its laurels and say, we are the gods of shipping barrels and boxes. But pushed the frontier to explore what other new and emerging opportunities might exist. And diversified considerably.”
“We still have a long way to go as a country, in deploying technology to improve efficiency in what we do. It’s something we’re seriously considering in Government. It’s something that I urge you also do in the private sector. Consider ways in which technology can be used to improve efficiency, in the things that we do, the quality-of-service delivery and efficiency in the deployment of assets.”
With a projected growth rate of 37.2 per cent for 2023, Guyana is expected to continue its trend this year of outpacing every other Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) country when it comes to economic growth. Additionally, the nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has almost tripled in the space of two years, moving from $1.1 trillion in 2020 to $3.1 trillion at the end of 2022.
Guyana has also recorded the highest Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows in the Caribbean, with President Dr Irfaan Ali boasting last month that this was indicative of investors’ confidence in the country and its leadership.
The United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) “Foreign Direct Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean” 2023 report stated that Guyana recorded FDI inflows for 2022 totalling US$4.389 billion.
“FDI is an important indicator of the confidence that investors have in the country. So, we are not only the leading destination for FDI, it tells a lot about the confidence which the sophisticated and international investor has in the country, the leadership, the direction in which the country is going,” Ali had told reporters. (G3)