By Antonio Dey | HGP Nightly News|
GEORGETOWN, GUYANA — Against the background of Guyana’s rapid, resource-driven economic boom, the inaugural TEDxTurkeyen conference officially debuted at the Fresh Café on Carmichael Street. The independently organized symposium brought together a multidisciplinary lineup of young Guyanese innovators, scientists, and cultural advocates. Their goal was to challenge the traditional focus on economic growth and spark a conversation centered on human safety, intellectual rights, and long-term community resilience.
The localized platform was created by prominent media personality and journalist Janelle Persaud. It was designed as an independent space for uncensored intellectual exchange, moving past the typical rehearsed talking points of conventional corporate panels. The conference addressed five core pillars of national development: public health, industrial systems, cultural preservation, sustainable agriculture, and artificial intelligence.
1. Public Health: A Core Element of National Security
The presentation layout opened with a sharp address from public health practitioner Sheba Thomas. She urged state planning officials to treat preventive medicine not merely as a budget line item, but as an essential component of national security.
Thomas noted that while the state boasts historic gross domestic product (GDP) growth metrics, the actual strength of the republic relies entirely on the biological health of its workforce.
“What if our real vulnerability is a life lost to a preventable disease simply because we moved too quietly to take it seriously?” Thomas asked the audience. “I have seen what happens when we wait too long. People arrive at hospitals exhausted, frustrated, and already too late. Families are collapsing under the weight of a diagnosis that could have been prevented months or a year earlier. A nation isn’t strong just because it is developing; it is strong when its people can live, work, and raise families without preventable diseases cutting their lives short.”
2. Safety Engineering: Redesigning Work for Human Limitations
Occupational health and safety expert Noel Johnson turned the focus toward workplace safety. He urged heavy industry executives to look beyond individual blame when evaluating accidents, pointing out that nearly three million workplace fatalities were reported globally in 2023 by the International Labour Organization (ILO).
“Human safety will not be about eliminating human error,” Johnson explained accessibly. “It will be about understanding the error, designing for the error, and building systems that can protect our people even when they are at their most human.”
He noted that basic adjustments—such as color-coding equipment controls and simplifying instructions—can significantly reduce high-stakes operational risks across Guyana’s growing construction and maritime oil sectors.
3. Intangible Wealth: Intellectual Property Fires the Creative Economy
The discussion on national systems peaked during a presentation by Amrita Naraine, Founder and CEO of Artellica AI. Naraine, a data scientist holding a specialized master’s degree in Artificial Intelligence for Creative Industries, pointed to a major gap in Guyana’s legal framework: the lack of modernized intellectual property (IP) and copyright protections.
Naraine argued that without robust legal frameworks that allow creators to securely own their ideas, the country will continue to experience a severe brain drain. This environment causes local innovators to take their creations to foreign markets where their intellectual assets are legally protected.
“Every time an innovator leaves, we don’t just lose a person; we lose an entire economy,” Naraine warned. “We lose the creative economy—any economic activity that relies on an individual’s intellectual wealth to build value. It is the value of an idea before it becomes a product, and right now, it is the most valuable resource we have. Just as we have an idea, we must have the legal means to own it. Because if we don’t, our best ideas will leave, and intellectual wealth will move swiftly out of our borders.”
4. Cultural Identity and Permaculture Ecology
The symposium also explored how culinary traditions and agricultural practices shape local identity and environmental sustainability:
- Culinary Identity: Culinary advocate Joshua Jomo Macey traced the history of Guyana’s national dish, pepperpot. He explained how its evolution mirrors the country’s multicultural identity, combining Indigenous preservation methods, African culinary styles, and European additions into a single symbol of shared history.
- Regenerative Agriculture: Permaculture advocate and farmer Chris Wilson addressed environmental concerns. He warned that declining soil quality along the coastal belt threatens local food production, urging a shift toward regenerative farming methods that support biodiversity and work in harmony with natural ecosystems.
The inaugural event demonstrated that as Guyana navigates this period of rapid economic transformation, its long-term success will rely on its willingness to listen to bold ideas, protect its intellectual assets, and build a development model centered on the well-being of its citizens.
