The government continues to foster an environment for job creation opportunities and to partner with various businesses to assist with this and today was no different in Region Six (East Berbice Corentyne) where Senior Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance and the Public Service, Dr Ashni Singh attended and delivered the feature address at the launch ceremony of a job fair and expansion of operations of Centerville Office Support Limited.
Dr Singh was accompanied by Regional Vice Chairman of Region Six Zamal Hussain.
Centerville Office Support Ltd. is a leading provider of specialised customer service solutions and officially opened its expanded site office in Berbice while hosting a job fair designed to attract, engage, and recruit new talent from that region. It provides outsourced client support services exclusively to the legal sector and its clientele includes law firms, corporate legal departments, and independent attorneys across North America.
The business offers a wide range of remote support services, including client intake and onboarding, virtual receptionist and phone handling and legal document preparation and administrative support.
The company already has over 300 employees currently working remotely across various parts of Guyana since starting up operations in Guyana two and a half years ago and will now be adding an additional 200 at Number 75 Village to its workforce.
Speaking at the launch, Dr Singh reiterated the government’s commitment to continue to partner with the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector and the wider business community for growth and expansion to allow for economic opportunities.
“President Ali has said on every available opportunity that he and his government are building a Guyana that has economic opportunities for every single citizen of our country and that means opportunities of several types. When we say we want to create opportunities for every single Guyanese person to uplift and improve their lives, we are speaking about education and training, employment, entrepreneurial or business opportunities.
Even if you did not have the opportunity to complete high school through the traditional routes, you don’t have to assume that this means this is the end of the road in terms of uplifting yourself academically, or that you should rule yourself out of the workforce forever,” Dr Singh said as he addressed those in attendance.
The senior minister added that it is for this reason the government is providing am additional route for persons to get high school diplomas or their equivalent including through the Guyana Online Academy of Learning (GOAL) scholarship programme and for training programmes for persons to be able to get training free of charge that will allow for certification for them to enter the workforce. He pointed out that the government wants every single person to take advantage of these opportunities.
Minister Singh also alluded to President Ali being responsible for bringing the new Telecommunications Act into operation upon his first month in office which has now allowed for three companies to have fibre optic cables across various parts of the country enabling the cost of bandwidth to come down to one tenth of what it was in August 2020. This has further enabled companies like Centreville and its parent company and shareholders in the United States to come and create jobs for Guyanese people. The minister, therefore, expressed strong appreciation to the company for its confidence in Guyana.
Nalini Locke, Operations Manager of Centerville Office Support Inc, who also spoke at the launch, said “We believe that Berbice holds untapped potential in its workforce—individuals who are capable, committed, and eager to grow. This expansion is part of our long-term strategy to empower regional communities through employment and career development. We are not just looking to fill job vacancies. We are building careers with pathways for advancement, on-the-job training, and performance-based incentives.”
Only last week the minister also alluded to the government’s commitment to provide economic opportunities for Guyanese during the expansion of another company at Enmore along the East Coast of Demerara- VChart- which is expected to create 250 jobs. (Department of Public Information)
