“Have an aggressive view on life and push yourself” – Jagdeo tells young people

…urges youth to seize tech, tourism, agri paths in Guyana’s growing economy

Vice President (VP) Dr Bharrat Jagdeo is encouraging young people to recognise the growing opportunities across all sectors of the economy and to position themselves to take full advantage of the country’s development path.
“Not everyone can be contractor,” Jagdeo said on Friday last as he addressed a large gathering in Linden, Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice).
The VP pointed to opportunities in sectors such as agriculture, healthcare, tourism and the digital economy.

“You have to think about other opportunities because there’s a limit to that [being a contractor]…You have other opportunities as young people,” he highlighted.
In tourism, Jagdeo pointed to the numerous international hotels being constructed across the country.
“Those 12 hotels will need 6,000 people to work in them and I’m not talking about waiters alone or waitresses. I’m talking about chefs, managers…beverage managers…event managers etc., that pay a lot of money. So, if you do a GOAL (Guyana Online Academy of Learning) scholarship now on event management, you could easily land a job in one of those hotels,” the VP outlined.
In agriculture, Jagdeo said there are many opportunities for young people, especially as the Government works to make the sector more diverse and modern.
“Smart agriculture, many of you can find a career in that,” he noted. “Like in the savannahs now, when we got into office, we were importing all of our corn and soya. Within another two years, we will be producing all of the corn and soya we need for domestic demand. We will start processing it to produce all of the oil that we import now…that’s a vast opportunity for agriculture.”
Still on agriculture, Jagdeo highlighted how Guyana is now producing onion, reducing its import of the product.
“We started bringing the seed from Brazil…and it’s bearing, the onions now are better grown in Guyana than we import, and prolific…in a couple of years’ time, if you have one acre or two acres, you can make a good living from just doing onion and that’s the kind of agriculture that we are looking,” he explained.
He noted too that the future of agriculture will depend heavily on the use of drones. “So, if you now are trained to use drones or fix drones, then you have a bright future ahead of you. But if you’re thinking you’re gonna go with a pump and spray the rice field anymore, you can’t be thinking that way for the future that is before you.”
Jagdeo also referenced the Government’s plan to transform the country into a digital society, noting that there are many opportunities in that area too for young people.
“Now we need people trained in cyber security. We need them to be trained in financial intermediation, how to run apps that are financial in nature. All of this is young people and opportunity. So, when you’re choosing careers of the future, think about what the Government has announced and start choosing the subjects that you want to study,” the VP advised.
In healthcare, Jagdeo highlighted the Government’s ongoing plans to develop twelve new hospitals. In addition to the opening up of job opportunities that these healthcare facilities, the VP said young people need to start thinking about business opportunities in this sector.
“…people to supply gas or to run the gas plant…when we came in to office in 2020 and COVID was there, there was no hospital except Georgetown Hospital, in a minor way, that had an oxygen creating plant in-house. We had to import the oxygen from Trinidad to keep people alive. So, each of these hospitals would do that. But now you need somebody to maintain these facilities. That’s the future,” he noted. Jagdeo emphasised that every sector of the country’s economy will change, and “I hope as young people, you’re thinking this way. You’re following the opportunities.”
“If you want to make a future for yourself, you want to grow, you want to become somebody wealthier – because we want all of our people to get wealthy, to own their own home, to have a lot of leisure time, etc – you have to put in the effort too as young people,” he added.
According to Jagdeo, “there are lots of opportunities, don’t become like some people…people tell them they’re victims all the time so they don’t reach out for help, you reach out, have an aggressive view on life and push yourself, that’s what I want to say to young people and this is a party that pushes people.”
In encouraging young people to plan for their future, Jagdeo also re-emphasised his Government’s plan to introduce in the new term in office a zero-interest development bank for small and medium sized businesses.
“I expect all of you to start thinking about that…We used to give out a small grant of $100,000 to support small businesses…if you’re starting a proper small business, $100,000 is not enough. That is why we’ve made it clear that in our next term in office, we’re setting up a development bank that will give zero interest loans to small and medium scale business. So, I expect all of you who are thinking of setting up businesses would start thinking about the area you want to do it in, the feasibility study…because then you can get access to financing…,” he noted.