Miss World Guyana 2020 contestant Kimberly Adams who back in June launched her Beauty with a Purpose Project, Future Guyana, has been working assiduously towards its success.
So far, Future Guyana has provided internships, job opportunities and networking opportunities to over 30 applicants, forging partnerships with existing tech companies to make such opportunities available.
Future Guyana was created to target some of our country’s biggest inefficiencies in particular digital technology and bring Guyana up to par with the Caribbean and the rest of the world. The list of programs expected to be carried out for the 2019/2020 period are StartApp Challenge Competition, Exchange Programme, Blockchain Workshop, CrowdFund and Internship Portal.
For the StartApp Challenge Competition Future Guyana has already partnered with sites.gy in launching a competition to promote entrepreneurship, creativity and technical skill through the use of the app. Participants are required to create a robust, operable app for their business idea using the App builder platform on www.sites.gy.
The Exchange Programme provides a network that allows students and skilled individuals to access local, regional and international tech companies for job placement or part-time work in an effort to secure them work experience and expose them to the industry while increasing their professional network.
The Blockchain Workshop provides developers with the necessary tools to learn how to create functioning blockchain systems. Participants of this workshop can choose whether they wish to move on to the exchange programme or not.
Persons hoping for a programme to assist with funding their businesses may be looking to apply for the CrowdFund which allows individuals to receive micro-funding for their business ideas. For this particular programme, applicants submit their projects online and they are carefully assessed by a panel of judges who will at a later date shortlist four of these projects before a public audience. At the end of the four presentations, a further two are shortlisted for the final round where after a series of questions from both judges and audience, they will vote for the most viable project. The winner of this competition will be rewarded the total sum of money collected as the entrance fee along with any sponsored prizes.
Finally, the Internship Portal is an online webpage that provides internship opportunities for individuals interested in the tech field. While Future Guyana is responsible for sourcing these internships, they are also encouraging businesses to do likewise and introduce similar internship programmes within their organizations.
Today, Future Guyana will host a free webinar, ‘Igniting Your Tech Idea,’ an online workshop that is specifically intended for persons looking to bring their ideas to life. Interested persons can register for this workshop by visiting www.futureguyana.com/webinar.
For more information about Future Guyana and its accelerator programmes persons can visit www.futureguyana.com or www.facebook.com/futureguyana.