Equipping persons running small entrepreneurial ventures to transform their operations into orthodox businesses is one of the key pursuits of a privately-run local training institution which says that it is seeking to make “quality education” in a range of skills and disciplines more accessible to Guyanese.
The Royal Academy for Career Development which is managed by a five-member Board of Directors that includes former public servant Nichelle Patterson has already launched a number of courses in a range of disciplines associated with project planning, marketing, finance and other business-related areas.
Patterson says that the Academy is structuring its courses to respond to the need for persons involved in or contemplating business ventures to make more sound and informed decisions on matters relating to the growth and development of their pursuits.
“We are particularly interested in working with persons who are already in the business environment or who are contemplating getting into the business environment and who may not have the skills and capacity to manage a business, Patterson told Stabroek Business recently. She said that while there was “a special need” for training in business skills, particularly in the small business sub-sector, she believed that there was also a need to target public sector entities since persons with public sector backgrounds were also evincing an interest in running small business operations.
The Royal Academy is offering courses in such areas as Business Economics, Business Communication and Management, Business Proposal Writing and Strategic Planning and Management. “We believe, based on our research that these are among the critical disciplines that are needed in pursuit of managing a business,” Patterson said.
Patterson, a qualified accountant, is a former Accounts Clerk with the Ministry of Agriculture, She has also served in an accounting capacity with the Ministry of Public Works and as Programme Accountant with the European Union-funded Guyana Micro Projects Programme.
Three local Directors, Patterson, Jimmy Bhojedat and non executive Board member Eusi Evelyn comprise the Academy’s local management team. Two international counterparts
complete the Board of Directors.
Evelyn told Stabroek Business that the Academy is particularly keen on working with the local agricultural community given the importance of agriculture to Guyana and to the rest of the region. He said that it is not uncommon to find persons “who may wish to become involved in agriculture or who may already be operating small or large agricultural ventures who may have some shortcomings as far as running a business is concerned.” Evelyn said that he believed that in much the same way that farming requires special skills, so too does business. “What the Royal Academy seeks to do is to provide farmers with skills that can help turn successful farming into even more successful business.
To underscore its bona fides as a reputable training institution The Royal Academy has secured international credentials from various overseas-based training institutions including the American Association for Project Management, and the International Project Management Association, United Kingdom. Evelyn said that the Academy is currently in discussion with the Australian Institute of Project Management in order to secure accreditation from that institution. Locally, the Academy is collaborating with the Institute of Distance and Continuing Education whose orientation is consistent with what the Academy is seeking to accomplish.
The Royal Academy for Career Development, formerly Micro Tech Financial, was established in 2001. Evelyn says that the mandate of the institution is a simple and practical one. “What we aim to do is empower lives through training,” Evelyn told Stabroek Business.
While both Evelyn and Patterson say that the Academy aims to provide its students with “certification,” they both insist that the focus of the curriculum is as much on “imparting skills and knowledge” as it is on offering a qualification. “Many of our lecturers have practical knowledge of the disciplines that they teach. In the areas of Project Management and Business, for example, case studies will deal with projects and project documents with which they are familiar. We believe that that approach affords our students the opportunity to secure the kind of practical exposure that they can take back to their own work environment,” Evelyn said.
And as part of the Academy’s outreach programme the institution is reaching out to both public and private sector organizations. Patterson believes that the Academy can help improve efficiency in the public sector insofar as trainees can come to a better understanding of a project-based approach to their assignments as public servants. “Sometimes efficiency tends to fall off because of an absence of structure in conceptualizing and executing assignments. What we can do is to help public servants to conceptualise their work in terms of projects. That way they can develop approaches that embrace the efficiencies which they learn to apply from our Project Management programmes,” Patterson said.
