Businessuite News24
MIIC & NCB Collaboration On Guyana Mission Delivers Multi-Sector Opportunities
The recent mission to Guyana by the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce has unearthed a range of business opportunities across multiple sectors, such as Agribusiness, Construction, Financial Services & Tourism.
Conceptualised and led by portfolio Minister, Senator The Honourable Aubyn Hill, and organised by JAMPRO, the Ministry’s trade and investment promotion arm, the seven-day mission comprised a Jamaican delegation of 33 private sector and government officials.
JAMPRO arranged over 70 official business to business meetings for the Jamaican delegation with Guyanese companies and government agencies. This, with the support and collaboration of sponsor NCB, and key players such as the Guyanese Manufacturing and Services Association (GSMA), the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce (GCC), the Private Sector Council of Guyana and Go-Invest, the Guyanese government’s trade and investment agency.
“The level of proactive collaboration seen during scheduled group and small meetings has been extremely positive and shows the real economic benefits to be gained by both Jamaica and Guyana from this mission. There are already plans for a follow-up mission to advance the strong potential,” said Minister Hill.
Business networking opportunities on the mission were reinforced by a cocktail reception, sponsored by NCB Capital Markets and hosted by Senator the Hon. Aubyn Hill, at the Guyana Marriott Hotel. The reception featured the official signing of an MOU between the Guyana Office for Investment (GO-INVEST) and Jamaica Promotions Corporation (JAMPRO).
The GSMA was represented by Executive Director, Nizam Hassan as well as second Vice President, Dr. Vishnu Doerga. Also in attendance were Chairman of the Extractive Industries subsector, Dinesh Bisessar; Chairman of the ICT subsector, Orson Ferguson; and Chairman of Textiles & Sewn Goods, Upasna Mudlier.
“NCB Capital Markets is a firm supporter of regional integration.
Steven Gooden, CEO, NCB Capital Market said, “NCB Capital Markets is a firm supporter of regional integration. To this end, we are pleased with the level of discussions that occurred at the recent JAMPRO Trade Mission to Guyana. It is these partnerships that will help to forge stronger relationships with our Guyanese neighbours and enable collective dialogue that will facilitate enhanced growth and development for both regions. We look forward to continuing conversations on our return with the JAMPRO team.”
With the expected increase in workforce needs in Guyana, Minister Hill seized the opportunity to highlight the capacity building potential of HEART NSTA to deliver the National Council on Technical and Vocational Education and Training (NCTVET) certification, and stressed Jamaica’s ability to supply short term technically skilled personnel to support the Guyanese expansion.
“We will explore designing a skills exchange programme to enhance the Guyanese talent pool,” he noted.
Guyana’s workforce needs will reach 2.5 million in the next three years, from a population base of 790,000.
Richard Rambarran, President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce, opined that Guyana’s workforce needs will reach 2.5 million in the next three years, from a population base of 790,000. This presents expansive opportunities for an increased demand in food from which Jamaica’s agribusiness sector and its players could benefit. This also presents an opportunity to export processed goods, explore joint ventures with Guyanese entities to utilise raw materials and create synergies along the supply chain for the mutual benefit of Jamaica and Guyana.
Guyana’s current building boom requires an expansion of the building industry. Jamaican contractors and developers with access to capital can find opportunities in this expansion, generating financial gains for Jamaica while supporting the infrastructure growth of Guyana.
The possibilities for the building boom are clear – 12 hotels are under construction, one of which is financed by a Jamaican institution and built by a Jamaican contractor. 20,000 houses are also expected to be built per year over the next few years to support the expected talent influx. In addition, some 700 km of roads are being built, including a major highway to northeast Brazil.
Additional opportunities abound in the supply of building material and technical building expertise.
The growing need for capital to finance this building boom is more than the local institutions can provide, opening opportunities for Jamaica’s sophisticated private equity, debt financiers, micro credit, and stock exchanges to market their products and services. “The financial services industry in Guyana is replete with opportunities for Jamaican business acumen and financial know how to thrive. The Jamaican institutions can play a key role in bringing structured financial instruments to Guyana and support transformation of the sector,” said Minister Hill.
Underpinning Guyana’s vision to be the breadbasket of the Caribbean is the need for greater accreditation of its laboratories and food processing factories. JANAAC, Jamaica’s National Agency for Accreditation, has already certified four Guyanese agencies and is researching the potential to establish a satellite office there to capitalise on the new opportunities that were explored with Guyanese agencies and organisations.
Commenting on her experience in a post-mission survey, a member of the Jamaican delegation, Kareema Muncey, CEO, Home Choice Enterprise Ltd, said, “It was overwhelmingly great and well organised; it was a new experience. The mission connecting Guyana to Jamaica was a great idea for networking and business opportunities.”
The spirit of collaboration and the opportunities unearthed were excellent
The trade mission included senior business representatives from the financial services, food processing, HR solutions and construction management fields, all of whom had fruitful discussions with Guyanese counterparts. The mission has improved on the established foundation between the two nations and strengthened business ties between Jamaica and Guyana for mutual economic benefit.
President of JAMPRO, Diane Edwards stated, “The spirit of collaboration and the opportunities unearthed were excellent and reinforced the need for deeper regional integration as the shared benefits will enhance the region on a whole.”
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has forecast that Guyana’s overall real gross domestic product (GDP) for 2022 will grow at a rate of 57.8 per cent. Much of this is underpinned by the development of a nascent oil and gas sector, and spin-off developments.
Guardsman Metaverse, in collaboration with Jamaican artificial intelligence company Crimsontide AI, is revolutionizing security across Jamaica with cutting-edge, customizable solutions. This partnership brings together Guardsman’s expertise in virtual security and Crimsontide’s advanced AI technology, delivering a suite of intelligent security offerings tailored to meet the unique needs of Jamaican businesses and institutions.
Through this strategic collaboration, Guardsman Metaverse is positioned at the forefront of the country’s security landscape, offering systems that leverage both immersive digital technology and sophisticated artificial intelligence.
The partnership underscores the importance of local innovation in addressing the security challenges faced by Jamaica today, providing clients with tailor-made solutions that ensure effective protection.
Guardsman Metaverse is committed to offering security solutions that go beyond traditional models, emphasizing customization and flexibility to meet the specific requirements of each client. From large commercial operations to smaller enterprises, the platform delivers a personalized approach that ensures maximum efficiency and peace of mind.
This flexibility is what sets Guardsman Metaverse apart—adapting to each environment’s unique security demands and offering a more responsive, intelligent way to safeguard people and assets.
With AI-driven features that allow for real-time monitoring and proactive threat detection, Guardsman Metaverse empowers businesses and institutions to stay ahead of potential security breaches. Each system can be fully customized to fit the environment it protects, delivering advanced functionality across a wide range of settings.
Advanced Features for Comprehensive Protection
- Facial Recognition: Guardsman Metaverse enhances access control through secure, real-time identification of authorized personnel, ensuring that only those with clearance can enter critical areas.
- License Plate Detection: For commercial properties, this feature allows for real-time monitoring of vehicle activity, helping to identify unauthorized or suspicious vehicles and notify security personnel immediately.
- Personnel Counting and Crowd Management: Especially important for businesses, this feature tracks occupancy and manages crowd flow, helping to ensure safety, meet regulatory requirements, and optimize operational efficiency.
- Firearm Detection: Using AI-powered analysis, Guardsman Metaverse detects the presence of firearms, providing instant alerts to security teams to ensure a rapid and effective response to any threat.
- Customizable Behavioural AI: Tailored to each client’s specific needs, Guardsman Metaverse’s behavioural AI can be trained to detect and respond to specific actions or patterns that are unique to the environment it monitors.
- Infrared Drone Surveillance: Equipped with infrared technology, Guardsman Metaverse drones provide round-the-clock aerial surveillance, ideal for large properties, high-security areas, and search-and-rescue missions, offering comprehensive monitoring that goes beyond traditional methods.
These advanced security features are fully customizable, ensuring that businesses receive a solution designed specifically for their needs. Whether it’s safeguarding large commercial complexes, healthcare facilities or educational institutions, Guardsman Metaverse offers tailored protection that provides complete peace of mind.
The partnership with Crimsontide AI, a rapidly emerging Jamaican company specializing in state-of-the-art patent-pending artificial intelligence software, ensures that Guardsman Metaverse’s solutions are not only technologically advanced but also locally relevant.
Crimsontide AI Limited is at the forefront of technological innovation, and its expertise allows the system to be fine-tuned to the specific security challenges that businesses in Jamaica face.
Through this collaboration, a diverse offering of services is available to various customers and industries, including theft detection at banks, supermarkets, and retail stores, intruder detection and breach prevention at hotels and resorts, as well as risk mitigation and compliance solutions.
Crimsontide’s AI technology also enables businesses to recognize trends in data, detect outliers, and summarize data sets, all aimed at informing better business decisions.
This partnership ensures that Jamaicans are at the forefront of solving their own security issues, with solutions designed by Jamaicans, for Jamaicans. At Crimsontide AI, the commitment to rebuilding a safer Jamaica is at the heart of every innovation, working toward a future where local technology empowers local security.
However, beyond responding to security threats as they happen, Guardsman Metaverse is designed to predict and prevent potential issues before they escalate. By leveraging AI to analyse behaviours and patterns, the system can foresee risks, giving clients the ability to take proactive steps. This predictive approach ensures that businesses and homeowners are always ahead of security challenges, helping to mitigate risks before they become serious threats.
With Guardsman Metaverse, clients are empowered to protect their environments not just reactively but pre-emptively. This next-level security capability, combined with fully customizable features, ensures a comprehensive approach that adapts to the ever-evolving nature of security threats in today’s society.
Studies consistently show that most strategic plans fall short.
The reasons are varied, but a common mistake stands out: teams often assume they understand “strategic” planning, only to end up misguided, compromising their organizations’ success. Often, what they call a “strategic plan” lacks real strategic thought.
How Missteps Occur
If you’ve ever reviewed a company’s strategic plan, you’ve likely seen a list of ambitious goals. They may be grouped in catchy ways, but as you read through, doubts surface. Why?
You sense the organization may lack the resources or focus to achieve all these objectives simultaneously. The longer the list, the more you suspect it may be abandoned when daily issues arise, with lofty goals slipping out of view.
Redefining “Strategic”
One way to prevent this common pitfall is to rethink how we use the term “strategic.” Today, the label “strategic” is often used casually to signal importance, so much so that it’s lost its impact, and audiences tune it out.
This isn’t just a communication issue. When teams invest time in a strategic retreat, they expect the final plan to be truly strategic, yet often that’s not the case.
Typical brainstorming sessions encourage a mix of ideas and positive intentions without much structure. The result is often an extensive report of hopeful outcomes, which can look similar to other plans within the industry—ultimately, another reason for failure.
Enter the Strategy Triad
Peter Compo’s book *The Emergent Strategy* introduces a helpful redefinition of “strategic” by proposing a triad approach:
1. Aspiration: A meaningful, challenging goal that requires effort and won’t happen automatically.
2. Bottleneck: The main obstacle preventing the organization from achieving its aspiration(s).
3. Guiding Principle: A decision-making rule to help navigate actions that address the bottleneck.
Consider a store aiming to increase profits. If the biggest bottleneck is low brand recognition, the guiding principle could be to improve brand awareness through multiple channels—online, in-store, and through partnerships.
Applying the Strategy Triad
At a recent strategic planning retreat, a leadership team was challenged to apply the triad. Initially, it was difficult; identifying bottlenecks from new perspectives required collaboration and creativity, especially without cross-functional data, which led them to rely on firsthand experiences. Yet, they successfully defined bottlenecks and guiding principles that empowered employees to align their daily choices with the strategic plan. This alignment is what leaders want but is often rare.
Why Alignment is Rare
Leadership teams often avoid the challenging, healthy conflict required to build a robust strategy triad. They may take the easier path, creating lists of goals rather than diving into critical strategic planning. Alternatively, when discussions become too heated, leaders may intervene prematurely, cutting off debate and limiting essential buy-in.
To achieve meaningful alignment, it’s important to work through differing viewpoints until agreement is reached. Though challenging, this process builds the intellectual and emotional commitment needed for successful execution. By persevering through difficult conversations, leaders can significantly improve their strategic plans’ success and longevity.
Found this topic interesting? You may want to delve into my long-form content in my JumpLeap Strategic Planning Newsletter/Podcast.
Francis Wade
JumpLeap NewsletterPodcast
Framework Consulting
http://blog.fwconsulting.com : http://fwconsulting.com
Imagine you’ve joined a board, only to discover it’s deeply mediocre. This is your third meeting, and it’s becoming clear that the issues you sensed in the first two weren’t incidental—they’re ongoing. How do you address this underperformance?
Luckily, you aren’t the only one who’s noticed. Some members recognize that long-standing issues have held the board back for years, and while they’ve tried initiating change, nothing has stuck. These are complex, systemic challenges that won’t be resolved by casual discussions, pep talks, or a thoughtful email. Swift, strategic action is needed. But how?
I recently encountered insights from consultant A. Cecile Watson that shed light on why boards need their own strategic approach. Her perspective inspires these key reasons for why your board must implement a self-care plan.
Why Boards Should Prioritize Self-Examination
Boards are often envisioned as serving the organization’s needs. If all members align with this vision, things should function smoothly. Small differences can be ironed out, much like in the “Form-Storm-Norm-Perform” teamwork model, which illustrates the stages groups move through to achieve high performance.
However, boards today face a high-pressure environment, dealing with complex VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous) issues from the outset. While they might receive briefings, individual and group development often gets overlooked in the rush to deliver.
This traditional expectation—that boards serve swiftly, even if under-informed—faces scrutiny in Watson’s latest article. She argues that boards must practice self-reflection and strategy if they’re to excel. Smart people on a board don’t guarantee a high group IQ or EQ; in fact, group performance can suffer if proactive measures aren’t in place.
What does your board need? A new level of self-care. Watson suggests that boards operate as a kind of strategic unit, managing their performance preemptively. Failing to do so only perpetuates mediocrity.
The Case for Board Self-Strategy
Typically, boards focus on “strategic planning” for their organization’s future. Watson’s approach takes this one step further: boards must also strategize for themselves. As a unit, they need the space to address their own evolution.
This doesn’t mean ignoring corporate planning. In fact, I’ve previously recommended that board members actively engage in their organization’s strategic retreats, where they contribute to shaping long-term goals.
Yet, once these retreats end, some boards must adapt as well. For instance, one board I worked with chose to refresh its membership, reducing both the average age and tenure of its members to bring new perspectives aligned with the strategic plan.
In another case, a board had grown complacent. Members showed up sporadically, often unprepared. This lack of accountability permeated the organization, undermining its standards and culture.
Unfortunately, board evaluations alone rarely spark transformation. Instead, Watson advocates for a written Board Strategy, a guiding document that steers the board’s actions.
Creating a Strategy for the Board
Watson advises boards to define a vision for themselves and set measurable milestones to ensure the plan stays on course. While this may sound overwhelming for already busy board members, it’s ultimately about cultivating the right mindset, not rigidly following a checklist.
Adopting these principles can help your board become resilient, better equipped to navigate future challenges, and able to avoid the slow slide into mediocrity that affects many corporate teams.
Enjoyed these ideas? Consider checking out the JumpLeap Newsletter and Podcast with my best longform content.
Francis Wade
JumpLeap NewsletterPodcast
Framework Consulting
http://blog.fwconsulting.com : http://fwconsulting.com
Who is Don Wehby, Group CEO of GraceKennedy?
Who is Marlene J. Street Forrest, Managing Director of the Jamaica Stock Exchange Group?
Who Is Hon. Fayval Williams, Jamaica’s New Minister of Finance and Public Service?
Businessuite 2023 Top 100 Caribbean Companies – US$ Revenue
Which Company Has The More Sustainable Business Model….Edufocal or ICREATE and Why?
Jeffrey Hall Is Set To Be One Of The Most Powerful Men In Corporate Jamaica And The Caribbean. So, Who Is He?
JMMB Group Limited Investor Briefing – November 16, 2023
Jeffrey Hall Is Set To Be One Of The Most Powerful Men In Corporate Jamaica And The Caribbean. So, Who Is He?
A conversation with Marcel Anderson Group Chief Executive Officer and CTO at KYO Group on the disruption they are bringing to International Fast Cargo Transportation from the United States to Jamaica.
-
RANKING1 year agoBusinessuite 2023 Top 100 Caribbean Companies – US$ Revenue
-
Feedback & What You Think3 years ago
Which Company Has The More Sustainable Business Model….Edufocal or ICREATE and Why?
-
Entrepreneurship2 years ago
Jeffrey Hall Is Set To Be One Of The Most Powerful Men In Corporate Jamaica And The Caribbean. So, Who Is He?
-
Businessuite Women2 years agoJoanna A. Banks Was Set To Become The Youngest And Most Powerful Woman In Corporate Jamaica And The Caribbean
-
Marketing & Advertising2 years agoWill Oliver Mcintosh’s Verticast Media Group Acquire CVM TV From Michael Lee Chin? Part 1
-
Businessuite 50 Power and Influence2 years agoBusinessuite Women- Power and Influence 50 For 2023
-
RANKING1 year agoBusinessuite 2023 Top 50 Jamaica Main Market Companies – US$ Revenue
-
RANKING3 years ago
Businessuite 2021 Top 100 Caribbean Companies – US$ Revenue