As part of my day job, I was guided toward a meeting with a group of “fellas” who introduced me to an official in the Ministry of Economy and Industry from the State of Israel. I did not need that conversation to convinced that the Granger model is bound to fail but that conversation reinforced my belief that under President Granger, Guyana is on a highway to nowhere. When asked the question why Israel, the young state planning executive in that Ministry (unlike his comparator in Guyana who is a 70 plus-year-old geriatric with outdated state planning ideas) clearly outlined what is being done. No part of the conversation included phrases like “we want to do this” and “we want to do that”, that closely resembled the vocabulary mindset of Team Granger. Rather it was populated with phrases like “we have done this” and “we have done that” which exhibited a sense of confidence that any investor would want to get involved.
His answer to WHY ISRAEL was as follows:
1. A list of real examples of how they are attracting investment in biotechnology, nanotechnology, nuclear technology, green technology, agricultural technology (all high tech stuff) among others.
2. None of his officers are authorized to say “NO” to an investor who has demonstrated tangible confidence in the country by depositing funds into an escrow account in an Israeli Bank. The team leader in that Ministry has a direct phone link up to the Prime Minister of Israel (Head of State) who encourages that he be disturbed if an investment deal is being frustrated by another department. Can GOINVEST call upon President Granger to break down walls? Even if it was a bad idea, once there is investment money on the table, his technicians help the investor strengthen and refine the project until it is bankable. All of this support service is free of cost to the investor – the lawyers, the accountants, the business strategists. The bottom line – the State of Israel pulls out all stops to make the deal happen and this is a system that has been supported by all the major political parties for years. Private Sector investment is not a political issue in Israel, it is a national survival issue and it is treated as such.
3. Nothing is impossible in Israel when it comes to making deals. As an example, Israel will be exporting US$1 billion in medical marijuana and hemp by the end of 2018. The key word is export.
4. Israel’s world-renowned academic system fosters talent. Israel has the highest concentration of engineers and science researchers per capita in the world. Can we understand why all of these value-added science-based companies are rushing to Israel despite their geopolitical challenge? The young university graduates are like flowers to the investing bees. Together they make honey; I mean money!
Why aren’t there more scholarships for the science-based and engineering programs at UG? Why should a young man who invested 4 years at UG in an engineering program remain in Guyana when right next door in the Caribbean, there are jobs that are available that will pay him multiples of what he can possibly earn locally unless of course he has the right family connected to the bigwigs in the PNC?
5. Israel has people in their public service at the leadership level who are thinkers, makers and doers at changing the world of Cyber Security, Water Technology, Agro Technology, Health & Life Science, Finance Technology, High Tech & Smart Technology, Telecommunications, and Electricity Generation. Every one of these industries is billion dollar industries today in Israel. But it is clear that since Mr. Granger turned up, goat seems to have bitten Guyana and good projects like Amaila Falls Hydro are being made collateral damage to the uninformed mind.
6. “Israel is pro-your business”. Once you show some cash in an escrow account in an Israeli Bank, the Government rings fence your business idea and allow its army of deal technicians to leverage an assortment of governmental incentives and grants to seal the deal. Even after your business ideas has been converted to a working project, the government has a post-award analysis team that continues to check in like a “big brother”, to ensure that all is well but really to explore opportunities for expansion.
Can you now understand why all of a sudden since President Granger came to office that Guyana has became a ghost town when it comes to new investments? We are nowhere near the competition.
