Small business owner is UG Berbice Campus’ Best Graduating Student

…seize the moment, don’t wait for opportunities to fall in your lap – Pres Ali tells graduates

Thirty-six-year-old Feryal Khan, a small business owner from East Canje, Berbice, is the 2023 Best Graduating Student for The University of Guyana, Berbice Campus (UGBC).
Khan completed a Bachelor of Science in Management which is offered by UG’s School of Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation (SEBI) with a GPA of 3.95, giving her an edge for the coveted prize.

“I am elated and extremely honoured to be awarded this title. My hard work, dedication to my studies and ability to persevere through all the challenges were certainly worth it. I have made my mom proud and I am certain, had my father been alive, he would have been one proud dad,” Khan said when asked to describe her feelings about being named the Best Graduating Student of the UG Berbice Campus.
Khan is the youngest of three children to her parents, Hallima and her deceased father Fajir Khan. She attended the Cumberland Primary School and then went on to complete her secondary education at the Berbice High School (BHS) where she was named her school’s Best Graduating Student for the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) exams in 2004 and Best Caribbean Advance Proficiency Examination (CAPE) student in 2005.
She resides with her 76-year-old mom, who is an ardent Muslim. “My father was a hire car driver who plied the Georgetown to Berbice route for some twenty-six years and my mom was a small business owner prior to retiring. My parents always made sure our home was comfortable and conducive to studying and my father ensured that all of his children must attain a university education,” she said.
Like many of her colleagues, Khan said she faced many challenges but was able to overcome them as she was determined to be successful. “Having to attend classes in the online dispensation meant working via WhatsApp groups, and scheduling late night Zoom meetings to plan presentations and work on assignments,” she said.

For the past 16 years, Khan has been operating a small business, which she indicated has worked out well for her as it provided the flexibility to pursue her academic dreams. She explained that the programme she studied at UG helped her to understand the different business concepts and she was able to apply these to improve her own business.
According to her, her overall experience at the University of Guyana was “enriching, rewarding and offered insights into different perspectives. In addition, it allowed me to not accept issues at face value but rather it built on my ability to critically think and analyse for myself”.
Khan, in her advice to other persons desirous of pursuing tertiary education said: “Always fight for what is right, what is fair and what is just even if it means standing alone. Go after your dreams even if it seems impossible. The University of Guyana Berbice Campus has made this journey possible for me and it is also there for others too.”
However, almost 200 students of the UG Berbice Campus walked the graduation stage on Saturday, November 18, 2023, at the University Lawns, Tain Campus.
During the convocation ceremony at Tain on Saturday, Veteran cricket commentator Joseph “Reds” Perreira was conferred with an Honorary Doctorate of Laws for Excellence in Sports and Civic Engagement. In addition, Legendary Test Cricketer Rohan Kanhai was virtually conferred with an Honorary Doctorate of Laws for Excellence in Sports and Civic Engagement.
This year’s Convocation Ceremonies are extremely special as the University is proudly celebrating its Sixtieth Anniversary under the theme “Consistently We Rise, Changing the World in Infinite Ways”.
Meanwhile, President Dr Irfaan Ali, who had addressed the graduates in a video presentation, urged them not to wait for opportunities to fall into their laps but to aggressively go after them. The President stated that it is no one else but themselves who hold the key as to whether they succeed or fail.
“In this world you would you would find two types of persons, those who sit and wait for opportunities to come their way and those who go out and aggressively seek those opportunities. I encourage you to stride boldly into the future; be the masters of your destiny and shapers of your future.”
He also encouraged them to embrace challenges and form them into opportunities for upliftment. “Step forth boldly and seize the moment rather than waiting for opportunities to fall in your lap.”
Further, Education Minister Priya Manickchand also delivered a virtual presentation, and challenged the grandaunts to utilise the knowledge and skills that they have acquired.
Vice Chancellor of the University of Guyana, Professor Paloma Mohamed Martin during her address related that about 70 per cent of the graduates are the first in their family to attend a tertiary education.
“While we recognise that other institutions contribute to the eventual success of our students – from their birth onwards – however, the education and exposure at the University of Guyana is what sets them on a path of critical success in their adult lives. That success is not confined to the student but has a ripple-multiplier effect on the families, communities, and nations who hold hope for them and who they are expected to enrich through their work, attitudes, and investments,” the Vice Chancellor noted.
She continued that the University of Guyana owes an irredeemable debt of gratitude to those who conceptualised and valiantly fought to bring the dream of UG to life in challenging local and international conditions over 60 years ago. (Andrew Carmichael)