Guyanese entrepreneur and philanthropist, Miranda Thakur-Deen is a Special Person

Mar 19, 2023 News

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Diligent in her efforts to unlock doors for Women in Maritime…

By Rehanna Ramsay

Kaieteur News – In a world where women account for only 1.2 per cent of the global seafarers, Guyanese entrepreneur and philanthropist, Miranda Thakur-Deen is doing her bit to chart a course and open doors to help more women build careers in maritime.

Thakur-Deen is the visionary and founder of the Atlantic Alliance (AA) Maritime and Offshore Training Institute, a school that offers courses specifically designed to assist women interested in joining the marine workforce.

She told the Waterfalls, that given Guyana’s upward trajectory in the oil and gas sector, more opportunities have opened for locals to benefit. As a result, she has been seeking ways for her fellow Guyanese particularly women, to tap into the economic benefits that flow from oil.

Thakur-Deen said: “I want to help build the capacity of the local workforce in regard to providing a service offshore as well as onshore… As regards women, my goal is to increase their capability and let them see maritime as an avenue to earn a solid income for the betterment of themselves, their families and communities.”

She added “This is something that is happening globally in Asia and India women are challenging themselves and entering careers “that are traditionally male-dominated, I said to myself why not Guyana?”

According to Thakur-Deen, the opportunities for onshore careers are also vast.   She explained that automation and digitalization open new kinds of operational jobs which are shore-based, and appeal to a far larger number of women and men.

“The digital transformation of shipping will see it become part of larger intelligent mobility ecosystems, and that will create a variety of highly-skilled roles which have nothing to do with the sea. That’s a big opportunity for women,” she said.

This week’s Special Person is the epitome of what it means to drive women’s empowerment. Outside of the AA Maritime Institute, Thakur-Deen balances several roles. She has been included as a senator for the World Business Angels Investment Forum (WBAF) – an affiliated partner of the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI).

She is also a founder and board member of the Angel investors of Latin America and the Caribbean (LACBAN) and is Guyana chair for WBAF. She is also a signatory/ candidate for UN Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEP) where she has made a commitment to fostering gender equality in the workplace.

She said that “while there has been much talk about empowering women, I want to make sure I take the necessary action to ensure that women have their full power in society.”

In addition to her professional portfolio, Thakur- Deen is married to her childhood sweetheart, Amal Deen and a doting mother to their loving son, Javier.

OFFSHORE TRAINING INSTITUTE

When oil started to flow in Guyana, Thakur-Deen, a native of Wakenaam, Essequibo Islands saw an opportunity to embark on something new that would also open doors for her fellow Guyanese, who wanted to work in the sector.

She said: “My husband was working in local maritime for years, so I was able to see the gap between Guyana’s maritime and the offshore sector. I saw areas that I could have bridged that gap and I realized that there are certain training that these persons must have in order for them to go on to work in the offshore fields.”

And while very few entrepreneurs were willing to take big risks and the opportunities almost always appeared to have favoured men in business, with little to no guarantee of positive returns, Thakur-Deen invested both her confidence and capital, hoping to achieve more than just profits; but to cement a place for women entrepreneurs in the world’s newest petro-state.

She said: “I realized that this type of training and service was key to Guyana’s local content development for the other sectors because, with the development of the oil sector, there would be more merchant ships visiting Georgetown. I realised that there will be more ports, there will be more inland operators.”

Thakur-Deen said that this is how the idea for AA Maritime and Offshore Training Institute was birthed.  She told that the companies are all ISO 9000 certified with total quality management for essential core values to achieve business excellence.

It is the only maritime school in Guyana with International white page IMO accreditation. The AA maritime school offers training in practical skills to high-calibre seafarers to meet the highest standard of professionalism required in the ever-changing and demanding shipping industry. The AA Maritime School also offers recruitment services and placement of jobs in the oil sector.

The training school currently has lecturers that are internationally certified industry experts with backgrounds in the oil and gas industry.

The Institution comprises 20 classrooms with Digital and In-House Libraries, Augmented Reality Simulators and technical workshop facilities. It also intends to begin issuing certification in Offshore Petroleum Industry Training Organization

The goal of the organization is to achieve globally accepted guidelines for the oil and gas industry. OPITO was established in 1977 to ensure safety in the oil and gas industry. The school will soon have an OPITO certified pool.

The Maritime Institution is expected to provide unique training programmes which focus on teaching practical skills to both local and international students through a blended approach. The school’s courses are accredited by Guyana’s Maritime Administration Department (MARAD) and the Maritime Authority of Jamaica (MAJ).

ONE HUNDRED SCHOLARSHIPS

Within a year of being established, Thakur-Deen’s AA Maritime school has partnered with the Office of the First Lady, Arya Ali, to grant 100 scholarships through Indigenous women from Regions One, Two, Seven, Eight and Nine.

Since opening its doors, the AA Maritime and Offshore Training Institute have seen, at least, two hundred Guyanese graduate from short courses in maritime training. Forty of those graduates are women and ten men who benefited from full scholarships offered through the school.

Thakur-Deen noted that the female scholarship recipients include 20 women from the Women in Maritime Association Caribbean (WiMAC)-Guyana Chapter and 20 indigenous women, who benefited from a nearly $ 8.5 million investment Thakur-Deen made, to give full scholarships to them through the Office of the First Lady.

Through the programme, Thakur-Deen aspires to empower more women in Guyana and the Caribbean by integrating them into mainstream maritime activities.

As a businesswoman, Thakur-Deen said, “It has always been important for me to think and act unconventionally…”

She continued “These sectors have a handful of women who are directly employed and the numbers are much lower when you examine how many of the businesses in these sectors are women-owned.”

Thakur Deen said her commitment is towards ensuring that the people of Guyana benefit from the resource wealth.

The businesswoman said her only hope is that the Government of Guyana would show a greater level of support for businesses like hers, which took the risk of investing to build local capacity.

“The Government has encouraged us to invest but it is important that they reciprocate with the same energy to ensure we get contracts and opportunities for locally developed businesses and persons,” She said.

SOCIALLY-DRIVEN

Thakur-Deen said that her ultimate goal is to build corporations and platforms that will not just benefit her immediate family members.

She said while she is an entrepreneur, her desire is to create a legacy that goes beyond building wealth.

“I love to build successful companies that impact the necessary social changes whether it’s pro

viding opportunities for women, in education, health wherever I can,” she asserted.

Thakur-Deen’s knack to influence social issues was evident in the face of a global pandemic when most companies were scaling back and sending their staff home, she made sure her staff mostly the females were not placed on the breadline.

The Guyanese entrepreneur is most grateful that her company was able to survive the harsh economic realities created by COVID-19.

She said “Like most businesses, the pandemic affected us and we had to close our offices, we send home our staff, and they did some work from home. We were able to pay them and support them throughout that rough period because fortunately the business had capital, and did not depend on income to support the staff.

She said “I want to live a life that benefits others not just myself and my immediate family members… It’s the legacy I will leave on this journey”

Quoting famed American novelist, Ernest Hemingway, the businesswoman noted while “It is good to have an end to journey toward, it is the journey that matters in the end.”

The businesswoman is also the founder of the Give Another Chance Foundation (GACF). Thakur-Deen said that the idea for GACF was born out of a need for education support initiatives that she and her siblings had identified while growing up in a little village called Noitgedacht, Wakenaam, in the Essequibo Islands of Guyana.

GACF has since led social initiatives aimed at helping youths from depressed communities navigate societal ills. One such project is the mentorship programme for young boys from ‘Warlock’ East Ruimveldt, Georgetown, a community plagued by crime and poverty.

With the support of friends and partners, Thakur-Deen has also been able to provide basic health care and education support to underprivileged children in rural and urban communities for the past 10 years.

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