Local Content has become very topical, particularly in poor countries where the discovery of rich deposits of natural resources and the inevitable association of First World entities with the exploitation of those resources gives rise to discourse regarding how smaller businesses and potential local investors in the resource-yielding countries can benefit, directly, through the provision of goods and services necessary for the effective execution of the recovery and exploitation processes.
In order to formalize the process, countries have enacted laws to make it mandatory for all stakeholders of specified industries. In the instance of Guyana the issue of Local Content has arisen out of the country’s significant oil discoveries, beginning with the first May 2015 disclosure.
In the Guyana context local content speaks to the development of local skills and service capabilities including the use of local manufacturing in support of the oil and gas recovery process. Put differently, Local Content is about the creation of a skilled work force and the building of “a competitive supplier base.” This may be realized through the creation of small and medium-sized enterprises that have the capacity to offer goods and services of a particular quality, locally, which goods and services would otherwise have to be imported.