Business community, government must invest meaningfully in objectives of STEMGuyana, co-founder says –‘it’s not a question of begging for handouts’
Nothing, she says, pleases her more than the modest achievement of Team Guyana at the recent international robotics tournament in Washington and the occasion it afforded for a celebration at home. She was elated to discover that the media at home paid considerable attention to the team’s accomplishment not-withstanding the fact that Guyana had no tradition in robotics to shout about.
But Karen Abrams is not an advocate of protracted celebrations in circumstances where there is much work to be done to create an enhanced national sensitivity to the importance of robotics as a critical developmental tool. Her mind, she says, has already drifted in the direction of building on the accomplishments of Washington. “The world,” she says, “is not standing still, it’s not waiting for us.”
STEMGuyana, the organization which she co-founded after her earlier visit here in 2016 is envisaged as a launch pad for the institutionalization of robotics as a national pursuit. The initiative, she concedes, is ambitious and will need all of the institutional support it can get to develop and grow. It is not just cheering from the sidelines that she needs but material support from both the public and private sectors to help STEMGuyana put down roots here.
“What we are seeking are not charitable donations but investments in Guyana’s future. There is every chance that those contributors to STEMGuyana today will benefit in some way from the work of the organization down the road,” Abrams says. The tone of her assertion is authoritative, as if she is seeking to issue a timely reminder about a serious responsibility.
Asked about a strategy for ensuring that the organization is employed in reaching potential benefactors with “deep pockets,” Abrams says that while STEMGuyana’s appeals will be underpinned by a strong sense of urgency, they will target people’s appreciation of the mission of the organization. “We are appealing to a sense of nationalism, a sense of understanding what’s at stake here,” she adds.
STEM, the acronym for science, technology, engineering and mathematics, describes the methodology for combining those disciplines to help drive countries’ development. Robotics is a manifestation of the application of STEM and, Abrams believes, one of the keys to revolutionizing the agenda of young Guyanese for both leisure and learning.
There has, she says, been some encouraging local support for STEMGuyana and its objectives and here she unhesitatingly singles out First Lady Sandra Granger whom, she says, quickly saw the vision of STEMGuyana. “She was enthusiastic from the beginning and helped to make the programme possible by offering resources that were crucial to my getting the opportunity to enable STEMGuyana put down roots.” Setting that aside, Abrams says, “the First Lady made herself available to open and close our robotbuilding event and our earlier 2016 Camp. More than that she was instrumental in helping to promote our National Grade Six Assessment mathematics app. about which more will be heard in the months ahead.”
Tactfully, she declines, for the moment to ‘name names’ amongst the private sector entities that have already contributed
projects including the Brazilians with corn and soya: lemon grass for oil, potato and onion farming” while “there is also growth in the coconut industry with the opening of one ISO-certified project exporting coconut cream to Europe.
Guyana, Verwey was quoted as saying, was “ripe now more than ever with the range of industries on the rise, the favourable environment with regard to regulation and other safeguards and strong support from government. Through GO Invest, the sky really is the limit,” he added.
All told, more than 110 proposals with an estimated potential of almost US$ .5 billion were facilitated by GO-Invest in 2016.
Asserting that the agency is now closer to becoming a one-stop shop the CEO alluded to the introduction of new procedures that allow GO-Invest to share information with “the integral agencies” in order to reduce processing time and hassle for potential investors. The agency, he said, was also focusing on bridge-building initiatives “in order to regain investor confidence.”
GO-Invest, according to the article has been working with the Ministry of Business to establish stronger collaboration with government ministries and agencies “to promote specific opportunities under their agencies.”