Oslene Carrington is the CEO of the Guyana Economic Development Trust, an independent philanthropic organization that incubates and supports projects that develop the workforce and boost the private sector of Guyana. The US-based philanthropic organization has partnered with the School of Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation (SEBI) of the University of Guyana (UG) to provide funding for an annual Guyana Innovation Prize of $10,000 to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship. The award provides pre-seed funding to commercially viable research in agro-processing and technology from students, alumni, and faculty of the University of Guyana. The organization recently named Ms. Lisa Dublin, a graduate of the University of Guyana (UG), and Dr. Dawn Fox, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chemistry as the winners of the inaugural 2018-2019 Guyana Innovation Prize.
Oslene was born in Guyana and presently resides in the U.S. She possesses over 25 years of experience that includes supporting the growth of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), serving in senior management positions at U.S. Fortune 500 companies, leading nonprofit and educational organizations, and launching several businesses. Olsen’s functional responsibilities have included organizational development, strategic planning, fundraising, operations management, technology planning, marketing, and corporate finance. Oslene holds an MBA from the New York University Stern School of Business, a B.A. in Economics from Fordham University, and has received post-graduate training in strategy and innovation from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Sloan School of Management.
In an effort to raise awareness in the Diaspora, the organization will be hosting an awareness building event on Sunday, June 2, in Brooklyn, New York for the Guyana Innovation Prize. The aim is to bring together 75 “Innovation Prize Ambassadors” in the Guyanese diaspora in support of the organization’s mission.
The message is simple: we want to showcase the transformative power of entrepreneurship, particularly by bright young people with great ideas.
