‘Guyana strategically positioned to be ICT driver in the region’ – Minster Hughes

DPI, GUYANA, Tuesday, September 26, 2017

As the Caribbean Central American Action Conference (CCAA) concluded at the Marriot Hotel, participants are more informed on the business opportunities available in the country. Some of these were highlighted by Minister of Public Telecommunications, Catherine Hughes in her remarks at the Conference.

Minister Hughes observed that with the emerging Information Communication Technology (ICT) Sector in Guyana, the country has placed itself on the globe for investments relating to the sector. She highlighted some of these areas at the conference.

Business Process Outsourcing (Offshore)

According to the minister the Offshore Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) has been growing exponentially in Guyana over the years, specifically call centres, and with Guyana being the only English-speaking country in South America, high literacy rates, and compatible accents with the USA and UK makes the country an ideal host for BPOs.

Some of the BPO services offered here include Telemarketing, Inbound Customer Support, Medical Transcription, Voicemail Transcription, and Data Warehousing.

Software/ App Development Support -Animation Studio

In recent years there has been an increase in the number of animators in Guyana, with the first 15-seat animation studio established by Animatrix Studios in 2013. Hughes noted that Guyana can potentially offer services in the 2D and 3D market segmentations with a concentrated focus on 2D animation.

Technology Park

With vast amounts of underutilised real estate in Guyana, the establishment of a technology park can provide regular rental income for investors. The Minister observed with the construction of a technology park, a number of major projects from both the private and public sectors to smaller-scale projects like ICT- startups can be housed there. It can also facilitate local outsourcing services as such university labs.

Partnership  Opportunity

Minister Hughes said her office, “will be putting mechanisms in place to encourage foreign investors to partner with local ICT Start-ups to be part of their supply chain from the lowest to highest level needs.  This will create a new income stream for these small companies and allow them to gain invaluable experience.

Benefits to Investors

Minister Hughes also took the opportunity to list the benefits of investing in Guyana, an educated, highly literate workforce; trainable workforce; only English speaking country in South America; competitive labour and low business costs; simple business environment; time zone and natural disaster free zone.

Challenges

Security is a big issue that is oftentimes cited. Minister Hughes noted cybersecurity issues must be considered and secure data centres expanded and redundancy provided.

“At the policy level, it is clear that in the Caribbean region the development and implementation of harmonised cybersecurity legislation and the supporting regulations are vital”, Minister Hughes said.

The CCAA Conference is a partnership with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and was hosted under the theme, ‘The Transformational Economy: Perspectives and Opportunities for Guyana’s Private Sector’.

 

By: Gabreila Patram