Local businesses need to strategise & pivot

AS 2020 nears its end, many businesses would have reported suffering great financial and productivity losses but that has not necessarily been the case for Strategic Recruitment Solutions Guyana Inc.(SRSGY). SRSGY is a 100 per cent Guyanese recruitment Consultancy Company, which provides services in the oil and gas industry. Its capacity development is focused on appraising recruited persons, and training and certifying all potential workers in professional management areas and technical skills training to work.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Co-Founder of SRSGY, Kerri Gravesande-Bart, in a recent interview with the Sunday Chronicle, highlighted that since June 2018, the company has trained 203 individuals in oil and gas related fields. Of that number, 114 were able to get jobs within the industry. But, in 2020, the pandemic constrained the training the company usually offers. With training as a key component of this company’s operations, one could understand how or why the company would have ‘lost steam’. Except, it didn’t.

“While 2020 has been a really challenging year for everyone, we have gained some strides when it comes to certification in the industry,” Gravesande-Bart said. In July, the company completed its TRACE certification for due diligence; this a heavily benchmarked and comprehensive due-diligence review, analysis and approval process that establishes an individual or organisation has been thoroughly vetted, trained and certified by TRACE, the world’s leading anti-bribery standard-setting organisation. And then, in December, SRSGY became certified in ISO 9001:2015; this is a globally recognised quality management standard developed and published by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO).

“I think this whole season of COVID-19 really helped me to sit back and reassess, and strategise. It was a time to pivot and for us we used the time to finally get TRACE up and going, and ISO up and going,” the CEO noted. These certifications might sound simplistic but they are part of internationally recognised standards that are a crucial part of heavily regulated sectors such as Guyana’s burgeoning oil and gas sector. Beyond being crucial parts of the sector, these certifications aren’t just cardboard declarations for show. Getting the certification requires reviewing and bolstering in-house processes, which, Gravesande-Bart affirmed, helps to add value and provide a competitive advantage.

“(The ISO certification) has transformed our in-house process, making them more transparent, easier and folks are au fait with our quality standards that we have adapted by way of ISO,” she posited. Additionally, the processes implemented through this quality management framework has streamlined the work of SRSGY. There is a greater focus on document control and capturing customer feedback to ensure that processes are continuously assessed and pivoted to improve the services offered.

Beyond aiding organisational efficiency, the process of certification required the buy-in from staff. This meant that the Guyanese who are part of this local company had to see the merits of garnering such certification and help management achieve it. The drive of this company points to the wider impetus of local businesses to improve standards in order to position themselves for success in Guyana’s changing commercial landscape. The SRSGY CEO affirmed that the changing landscape and impetus for investment could only augur well for Guyana. “It is job opportunities for the people, and there are a lot of people who want jobs, and it’s good for the economy,” she said.