First ICT hub commissioned on E’bo coast

Minister of Public Telecommunications, Catherine Hughes, told the residents of Good Hope, Essequibo Coast, on Monday that their initiative to change the name of their Community Management Committee to the Transformation. Her emphasis was on the fact that this initiative to partly transform rural and remote community centres into ICT hubs is being executed by the eGovernment Agency.

On Monday, the Good Hope Community commissioned the first complete Community ICT Hub on the Essequibo Coast. It is equipped with 10 laptop computers all placed in neatly arranged cubicles.

The computers were provided by the Ministry of Public Telecommunications and the necessary hardware which facilitates connection to the LTE network on the coast was installed recently by the eGovernment technical team, led by Director Phillip Walcott.
This team is traversing the nation setting up internet connections in community centers and schools.
In her rousing address to the residents and students of the Aurora Secondary School, Minister Hughes said how heartened she was to witness a Community ICT hub come to life. “This is the very essence of walking the walk,” the Minister said.
“You have shown us how committed you are to the education of your children, to the growth of your community through entrepreneurship and the ability to connect in real time with other communities to share ideas, share knowledge.”

“The whole world is pushing entrepreneurship and the more developed nations are making it easier for micro industries to gain a foothold in the global market,” she said.
She explained how easy it is to sell products as small as Tamarind Balls via the internet. She told the story of the lady from Essequibo who has been exporting her Tamarind Balls, Guava Cheese, mettai and other such products to Guyanese living in other countries.
The orders kept coming in for larger quantities due to her online connections and FaceBook advertising. “The sky is the limit,” she said while exhorting the residents to take care of the facilities that they are justly proud of.
Head of the eGovernment Agency, Floyd Levi, explained the concept of Community ICT hubs which can accommodate people who walk with their own laptop computers to connect to the free internet, as well as those who need to use the computers installed by his agency.
Minister Hughes also handed over 10 laptop computers to the Managing Committee of the Charity ICT Hub which is expected to be commissioned in this first quarter of 2017.