The staging of an event that would attract interested Guyanese in the diaspora as well as other interested international business people to become better briefed on the investment opportunities that now obtain in Guyana, a country which is in the process of a gradual transformation deriving mostly from the country’s world class oil find, in 2015, is one of the missions of Guyanese-born Stacey Mollison, a United States-based businesswoman whose own entrepreneurial credentials are reflected in her success, owning and operating the Libra Management Group (LMG) in Decatur, Georgia. Mollison has also already established two companies based in Georgetown and Linden, Guyana Property Solutions (GPS), and Libra Management and Energy Group.
Mollison, as far as the Stabroek Business is aware is the first businesswoman ever to stage an event of this nature in Guyana. This was the second year that she organized this unique business and investment conference — Destination Guyana Now — in Georgetown. Her success in attracting more than 200 registrants is a seeming tribute to confidence among external registrants that she possesses the credentials to likely open doors to investors in Guyana which, foreigners, whatever their global profiles, might well find difficult in accomplishing. Remarkably, she extols its importance in the framework of a “small group, big impact” context where she is channeling more qualitative and engaged investor interest than merely attracting a large quantity of unengaged participants.
On Friday, October 18, Mollison and her team, having registered a sizeable contingent from the United States and other locations, executed a forum which would have had the effect of increasing the decibel level of the message that has been emitting from the Republic about its new-found status as an investment haven. Mollison’s credentials are arguably as good as any to have her serve as a Bell Crier for the country’s credentials as an amiable environment for foreign investment. Whilst ExxonMobil’s world class oil find offshore Guyana made sufficiently loud ‘noises’ to cause potential investors to rush to Guyana even without invitation, Mollison told the Stabroek Business that she believed that her credentials as a Guyanese with enduring connections to the country qualifies her to blow a trumpet for what is now the brightest ‘investment spark’ in the Caribbean.
What she considers to be the success of her mission derives in which she believes is the rapidly transforming image of Guyana, globally. Some of the more unpalatable aspects of the country’s overall image are now beginning to fade and from the standpoint of the populace, she believes, “the worm” – insofar of Guyana is concerned is ‘turning’ at a pleasing rate. Mollison’s recent efforts to seek to raise the investment temperature of the country combines with an enthusiasm for encouraging Guyanese residing abroad to do everything they can to ‘change the canvas.’ Contextually, the recent forum was at times lifted from the relatively salubrious environment of the Marriott and shifted elsewhere, to Tiger Bay, for example, which visit Stacey told the Stabroek provided fresh insights into ‘gaps’ in the support initiative Libra in interested in.
Contextually, during an informal exchange with the Stabroek Business, Stacy hit a handful of signal ‘high notes,’ like the importance of significantly strengthening the support base provided to communities like ‘Tiger Bay,’ a visit to which she said points to the reality that “much more can be done.” Mollison, during her discourse with the Stabroek Business, focused on “what more can be done” to complement the various works that are in progress to further accelerate the ongoing process in Guyana.
One of her own undertakings has been that of consolidating existing efforts to “helping to get Guyana where it needs to be going.” Here she puts to one side the importance of enhancing the country’s investment profile and focuses on ‘giving,’ she says, “so that support can reach those areas where it needs to go.” Here there is an intensity in her insistence that one does not associate with an expatriate Guyanese. She remains “connected,” she says, on account of the fact the family and relatives still reside here and that this consideration causes her to remain ‘anchored’ to Guyana.
During her interview with this newspaper Mollinson says that one of the ‘burdens’ of the responsibility associated with remaining ‘glued’ to Guyana has to do with the idea of being ready to respond as and when the need arises. It is, she says, more than seizing a ‘photo op.’ It is about helping to ‘take our country forward.’
