SB: Your CV suggests that a considerable portion of your career has been spent in training in the private sector. Given the multi-faceted entrepreneurial direction in which our oil-driven economy appears to be going can you tell us about the kind of training regime that you would wish to see implemented to support business in Guyana?
PB: I would like to see greater efforts to expand training for women in Technical and vocational fields. There is a growing demand for skills and it is time that a more concerted effort be made to focus on women being trained. Secondly, the hospitality industry has taken off. Demand for skills needed in the industry is outpacing supply… The training required is lagging…
SB: How do you see your own ‘agenda’ for training fitting in with Guyana’s development direction at this time?
PB: Our agenda at GPSM Consultants Inc. caters for several sectors and industries… We have partnered with reputable training agencies in the Caribbean to offer internationally recognized certified training in HSE, technical courses in Reliability and Maintenance Engineering, Recently we teamed up with the Barbados Institute of Management and Productivity to offer training to persons working in the Public Service. Many of our courses are done online where there is need for practical sessions the trainers are made available to conduct these… We have established a relationship with the GTI to utilize their facilities. Our Hospitality training programme is being geared to meet all aspects of the various trades in this industry… Our trainers have been doing this for the Tourism industry in the Caribbean and abroad working for the Cruise Line Industry.
SB: It is generally felt that over the years (and outside of the traditional government scholarship training regimen) enough has not been done to build a skills base in some of the practical disciplines that have to do with people running their own businesses. Do you consider this observation to be generally true and how do we turn this around?
PB: I agree with that observation. There is a paucity of training designed to meet the demands of the micro and small business owners. I am aware of the efforts of both the Small Business Bureau and IPED but there needs to be a more structured and consistent set of a programmes.
SB: Do you think that our local Business Support Organizations have a role to play in training to meet the needs of the country’s transforming business/economic outlook and are those BSO’s (PSC, GMSA, GCCI etc.) doing sufficient at this time to respond adequately to that particular responsibility.
PB: They do have a major role to play Technical and Vocational Skills training is not only a state function only. The private sector has a role here too.
SB: Given your own involvement in training through your company where would you wish to see the emphasis placed insofar as a relevant training regime is concerned?
PB: I would like to see more emphasis placed on technical and vocational training to meet the present and upcoming demands. The demands are in all sectors… The need is equally there in the mining, construction and agricultural sectors.
SB: If you had to put your finger on the (overall) critical areas in which there are training deficiencies, in which areas would you say we are particularly deficient?
PB: Our technical schools are not equipped with the equipment needed to meet the demands of the day. We have not done a good job of having students getting work attachments which would give those hands on experience. There needs to be a commitment from businesses to have students participate in work attachments. I am still a believer that instead of building new facilities to support new industries we should instead be putting efforts to the existing Technical Institutes and to exposing the qualified lecturers to the relevant training… I would also like to see the Board of Industrial Training Technical Training in Guyana having… students undergoing training… To do this the agency will have to be upgraded.
Peter Benny is the CEO of GPSM consultants Inc.