Local energy sector: Potential business support opportunities forefront of MBWESSI Forum

Aiming to simplify the process for companies interested in joining the oil and gas sector and learning about local content, MBW Energy Support Services (MBWESSI) on Wednesday hosted the 12th edition of its Relocation Forum, to provide a platform for information exchange and potential business support opportunities.
The female-owned-and-managed oil and gas support services company MBWESSI seeks to offer businesses desirous of participating in the local energy sector relevant information from Government officials and industry leaders, and hosts these forums every three months. Highlighted in this recent forum was the Centre for Local Business Development (CLBD), which plays a leading role in mentoring and building the entrepreneurial, financial, human resource, supply chain and knowledge management capacities of local businesses to ensure their success.

“The first thing that any business has to do to engage with the Centre, whether it be a Guyanese business or an overseas business, is to register with us at centreguyana.com, or clbdportal.com,” Nicola Balram, the Centre’s Communications Manager, has said. “When you register with us, you’ll be able to see all of the business and procurement opportunities that are available in the oil and gas space being posted by ExxonMobil and their prime contractors. You’ll also get emails from us about key business engagements and events that we host at the centre, or events that we support; so that you will be able to know what are some of these activities coming up, and how you can get more involved in the business community,” Balram explained.
The Centre also provides training on topics, including an introduction to offshore oil and gas; introduction to procurement; and introduction to health, safety, security and environment (HSSE).
“The best companies are ones that have gone through certain training to work in oil and gas and other Government [sectors]. So those companies are getting more contracts in the sector, and they’re getting more Government contracts as well,” Balram has said.
“They have multiple projects going on, but to manage all of it was proving to be a challenge. So, the Centre pivoted and introduced our Project Management Mentorship programme,” Balram added.
Besides mentorship, the Centre hosts business engagement events and supplier forums, and has an entrepreneurship programme initially directed towards helping women-led businesses, although it has now expanded to aid all businesses.
Meanwhile, ActionInvest Chairman Vishnu Doerga shared the benefits of becoming local content-certified.
“Before we became certified, and even up to now – every time – we have to do our management meetings for quality purposes, and we have our surveillance audits coming up. It’s always good to know that our systems are being scrutinised, tested, and reviewed, because that continues to allow us to deliver at the highest level,” Doerga has said.
He added that it’s important to have a sense of where the economy is going and how that would affect the industry, and he noted that economies work just like the seasons of nature; and traditionally, a fall is likely to ensue at some point.
“When we do have the fall, most companies actually do not recognize it, because they still have some latent demand; they still have some contracts that they’re fulfilling; they still have some receivables that are getting in; and if they don’t recognize this early enough, winter can hit them unprepared,” Doerga said.
“That is a very dangerous situation, because companies that have not learned how to be efficient, how to put all the systems in place, how not to pursue unnecessary spending, and how to ensure that they do receive a return on every single dollar invested, get wiped out pretty quickly during the winter. And in some cases, they don’t survive it to see another spring,” Doerga said.
Also present at the virtual forum was Laparkan General Manager Bodhan Nipan.