Young Guyanese must do more than watch the country transform, they must grab the opportunities being created and use their ideas to build businesses, create jobs and solve national problems, Public Affairs Minister Kwame McKoy has declared.
McKoy delivered the charge on Friday during the closing ceremony of an Innovation Camp at the Better Hope Community Centre, East Coast Demerara.
He told participants that government investment and policies could only produce lasting results if young people were prepared to learn, adapt and take advantage of them.
“We need you to be attentive. We need you to be adaptive. We need you to be understanding. We need you to observe. We need you to utilise,” McKoy said.
“We need you to take advantage of the things that we are preparing and designing for you and your future.”
The minister described the PPP/C administration as a strong development partner for young people and communities.
“You couldn’t ask for a better partner for development,” he asserted.
That was a political assessment by the minister rather than an independent evaluation of the government’s youth and development record.
McKoy said Guyana needs a new generation of leaders who are innovative, ethical, patriotic and willing to work across divisions.
He praised young people who were determined not merely to succeed locally but to compete internationally.
According to the minister, innovation can allow Guyana to produce more of what it consumes, increase exports and improve the delivery of goods and public services.
“We want to expand and optimise opportunities for making money as a country and as a people,” he said.
New ideas could create businesses for young entrepreneurs, generate income for their families and provide employment within their communities, McKoy argued.
He said creativity, knowledge and technical skills would also determine whether Guyana could compete successfully in international markets.
“The more we apply the innovations, utilise our creativity, talent and knowledge, we will get better and better,” he told the participants.
McKoy maintained that the government was deliberately investing in young people because they would ultimately be responsible for managing Guyana’s resources and responding to future challenges.
He identified climate change, food security, public health and emergency management as areas in which youth-driven innovation could make a difference.
“We want you to be better even than us,” the minister said, adding that today’s students should become “the stars of the future.”
McKoy urged the participants not to take educational, technological and entrepreneurial opportunities for granted and encouraged them to remain focused on their goals.
Details about the number of students participating in the camp, the projects they developed and whether financing or continued mentorship would be available were not included in the information provided.
The measure of the programme’s success will therefore extend beyond its closing ceremony to whether participants receive the continued training, resources and access to capital needed to turn their ideas into working solutions.
