Last Sunday the much-anticipated Ideathon-Guyana 2022 was held at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre. The event attracted registration of over 101 teams across Guyana. Participants were placed in two categories, ages 14-17 and 18-21, and each team comprised two to five members.
Participants were required to address problems currently affecting Guyana’s Education, Entrepreneurship, Environment and Health sectors as provided by the respective ministries to the organisers.
Based on a one page brief summary of their proposed project concept, final teams were whittled down to 35 and included over 125 participants.
On hand providing needed advice and mentorship to the teams, throughout the exercise, were expert advisers/mentors, chosen by organisers in coordination with the Office of the Prime Minister’s Industry and Innovation Unit (OPMIIU) and University of Guyana (UG), namely:-Dr. Quincy Jones – Director of School of Allied Health of University of Guyana (UG), Mr. Eric Phillips – Lecturer, University of Guyana, Ms. Diana Gobin – Lecturer in Department of Environment UG, Mr. Malik Williams – ICT Engineer & Digital Consultant and Mr. Shahrukh Hussain – Director of the Office of Prime Minister, Industry and Innovation Unit.
The judges were Dr. Charmaine Bissear, Department of Education, UG, Prof. Leyland Lucas – Dean of the School of Business, UG, Mr. Norwell Hinds – Environment and Sustainable Department, UG, Mr Shawn Coonjah, OPMIIU, Dr. Ritesh Tularam – Deputy CEO, Ministry of Education, Mr. Lance Hinds – Chief Executive of the BrainStreetGroup, Mr. Shomari Williams – Global Webby Award Winner & UG Lecturer, and Mr. Tajeram Mohabir – Editor in Chief, Guyana Chronicle.
After another process of elimination, seven (7) contenders from each category were given the opportunity to present their reports/presentation in front of a packed audience that included members of the Diplomatic Corps, Minister of Public Works – Sonia Parag, Minister of Human Services and Social Security – Dr. Vindhya Persaud, Members of Parliament including Ganesh Mahipaul of the Opposition, UG Vice Chancellor– Prof. Paloma Mohamed, former West Indies Captain Sir Clive Lloyd, members of the business community, non-government organisations, and civil society
Four prizes were awarded in each age group category including Overall Best prize and three Runners Up prizes. Winners were awarded trophies, medals, certificates, gift hampers as well as cash prize. Each member of the winning team received US$ 400.00; each member of the first runner-up team received US$ 300, 00; US$ 250,00 was given to each member for the second runner up team; and US$ 200.00 to each member of the third runner up team.
IdeathonGuyana 2022 was conceptualised by Mr. Athrav Kotehal Gowdara, a Grade 12 student of the Guyana International Academy (American International School of Guyana) on advice and mentorship of Mr. Peter Han – founder of SkyTree mentoring, Mr. Eldon Marks – Founding Director of V75 Inc. and Mr. Shahrukh Hussain – Director of Office of the Prime Minister’s Industry and Innovation Unit.
Athrav teamed up with his colleagues- Pratham Joshi of St. Mary’s International School of Tokyo, Yash Saxena from Monte Vista High School, California USA and Lucien Stanley of the American School of Georgetown. They reached out to the Ministries of Health, Education, Tourism/Commerce/Industry and Natural Resources of the Government of Guyana with the concept.
Athrav- who is the son of India High Commissioner to Guyana, Dr. Dr. K J Srinivasa- in his speech Sunday stated Ideathon grew out of the desire of supporting others to unleash their competitive spirit and getting involved in problem solving. Not lost on him, he said, from travels around the world, was the distinct challenges faced by the under-privileged and the fact that even though persons have the potential to solve problems they were excluded from participation.
High Commissioner, Dr. K J Srinivasa, in his speech, spoke of India as a centre for start-ups and entrepreneurship and said he hoped the experience from Ideathon would ignite the young minds of Guyana, the Government of Guyana/the entrepreneurial sector of Guyana to take necessary steps in taking the country forward.
Winners will now be encouraged to be part of an Impact Lab which is proposed to be held (based on the availability of resources) in consultation and coordination with OPMIIU, InterAmerican Development Bank (IDB) Innovation Labs, V.75 Inc. TheBrainStreetGroup, Action Invest Caribbean Inc, UG, etc. wherein proposed solutions could be improved to a scalable level, bearing in mind the potential practicability of the solutions.
Junior Winners:
Category from ages 14 to 17 yrs (Junior)
Overall Winner:
Team 5 – Members
– Ms. Vasanna Persaud
– Ms. Sameera Shaw
– Ms. Anaaya Jain
(Queen’s College School)
Sector – Education
1st Runner Up:
Team 8 – Members
– Ms. Charisa Corbin
– Ms. Akaia Griffith
– Ms. Barianna Sobers
(Queen’s College School)
Sector – Education
2nd Runner Up:
Team 10 – Members
– Ms. Renika Anand
– Ms. Anjali Maharaj
– Ms. Saskia Lalgie
(Marian Academy School)
Sector – Health
3rd Runner Up:
Team 13 – Members
– Ms. Myeisha Williams
– Ms. Sekai Jones
(University of Guyana)
Sector – Entrepreneurship
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Senior Winners:
Category from ages 18 to 21 yrs (Senior)
Overall Winner:
Team 1 – Members
– Terriann Wright
– Andrew King
– Jerry Collins
(University of Guyana – Young Influencers Program)
Sector – Education
1st Runner Up:
Team 11 – Members
– Joash Gobin
– Zane Angel
– Samir Mohammed
– Derindra Basdeo
(Chicken Fry Bytes Studios)
Sector – Education
2nd Runner Up:
Team 8 – Members
– Sharda Rangall
– Arshad Hussain
– Jamal Thomas
– Chavez Fleming
– Irshaad Ali
(University of Guyana)
Sector – Environment
3rd Runner Up:
Team 18 – Members
– Elisha Davidson
– Lemuel Williams
– Toshika Cummings
– Omkar Persaud
– Ann-Marie Khadoo
Ultimatus Electricus
Sector – Environment-
More details on the event are available at www.guyana-ideathon.com
