SBM Offshore Guyana launches STEM Scholarship Programme for Indigenous women

─Two indigenous women to benefit from full financial support for academic year 2023/2024 at the University of Guyana

─Programme working in tandem with company’s other initiatives to bolster local content development

SBM Offshore Guyana has launched a scholarship programme that is geared towards providing Indigenous women with an opportunity to pursue studies in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) at the University of Guyana.

This was announced at the launch of the company’s Scholarship Programme for Indigenous Women in STEM on July 19 and is aligned with its support for the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal Four—Quality Education, and Goal Ten, Reduced Inequality.

In attendance were SBM Offshore Guyana’s General Manager, Martin Cheong; Sustainability and Social Impact Programme Development Officer, Gwenetta Fordyce, and Sustainability Coordinator, Uma Madray. The University of Guyana’s Vice Chancellor, Dr. Paloma Mohamed-Martin and the Ministry of Education’s Deputy Chief Education Officer with responsibility for Amerindian and Hinterland Development, Marti De Souza were also in attendance.

Mr. Cheong noted that the company is committed to fostering the development of the country’s young people so that they can benefit from the oil and gas industry. He said, “Our wish is that the beneficiaries of this programme receive a quality education through the University of Guyana, giving them equal opportunity to contribute to the nation’s workforce and benefit from the oil and gas industry. We believe that nurturing the skills and talents of Guyanese youth will transform the country and encourage them to explore careers in this industry.”

Ms. Fordyce expressed that the aim of the scholarship is to empower indigenous women with the knowledge, skills and academic prowess to give back to their communities. She remarked, “Through this scholarship programme, Indigenous women will acquire an undergraduate degree, resulting in a transformative leadership, improved livelihoods, diversified income generation and job creation.”

Meanwhile, Dr. Mohamed-Martin said, “I wish to immediately applaud SBM [Offshore Guyana] for the speed at which they actually acted upon their idea. It is remarkable that just a few months ago this year, they had this conversation with us, and today we are actually launching this.”

Mr. De Souza lauded the company’s commitment to the development of Guyanese, saying, “This scholarship programme will be playing a great role in the development of Guyana’s human resources, more so, in the development of our indigenous women and girls.”

To qualify for the scholarship, applicants must be Guyanese Indigenous women now entering the University of Guyana, or a second-year continuing student majoring in Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics with a Grade Point Average of 3.2 and above. Applications can be submitted at https://womensstemscholarship.sbm.gy/. Following submissions, two candidates will be selected based on the criteria outlined on the portal. The deadline for applications is August 20, at 23:59 hours.

The scholarship programme is one of several programmes offered by SBM Offshore Guyana aimed at developing the country’s human resources. Other capacity-building programmes undertaken by the company include the Graduate Engineers’ Programme and Trainee Technician Programme.