-tenders for industrial, military footwear not favoured by local clients
Insufficient success in making inroads into the local leathercraft market has forced one of Guyana’s highly skilled craftsmen to temporarily close his $20m factory even as he continues to seek ways of changing a domestic consumer culture which, he says, is yet to be persuaded that goods manufactured here in Guyana can be every bit as durable and attractive as foreign imports.
Four years ago the Arawak Leathercraft Shoe Manufacturing Company was the toast of Guyana’s art and craft sector, a company whose products had promised to meet the standards that matched, even surpassed the quality of leather goods produced elsewhere. Richard Winter, the owner of the Coomaka, Demerara-based company had broken into the market with a broad range of high quality leather products. The company’s footwear, particularly, was widely considered to be both durable and attractive enough to meet the demanding tastes of fashion-conscious Guyanese. Winter, a native of Port Kaituma and the only Guyanese who holds membership of the Brazilian Handicraft Association told Stabroek Business earlier this week that he was particularly optimistic that his industrial and military footwear would find favour with Guyanese companies and with the disciplined forces and that they might even secure a niche in the regional market.
The bubble may not have burst but according to Winter his plans have hit major hurdles and in 2007, two years after the establishment of the company, he was forced to temporarily close that section of his operations that manufacturers industrial and military footwear.
A “very disappointed” Winter told Stabroek Business that he has failed repeatedly to win even a single supply contract despite his responses to several invitations to tender published by local companies including the Guyana Power and Light Company, the Guyana Water Inc and Transport and Harbours Department. Nor, he says, has he fared any better in his quest to win contracts with the disciplined services. He has met with functionaries of the Guyana Defence Force but nothing has ever come of those meetings.
Since there are no other local manufacturers of industrial and military shoes the tenders have always been awarded to importers who, Winter believes, invariably offer products that are inferior to his own.
And while he says that he is aware of the competitive nature of the bidding process he believes that his failure to find favour with state clients reposes mainly in the still lingering belief that imports are superior since his bids have invariably been lower than 80 per cent of those submitted by his competitors.
Winter believes that Arawak Leathercraft Shoe Manufacturing Company deserves an opportunity to prove itself, to demonstrate that the local leathercraft industry has come of age.
Significantly, Arawak has secured and serviced contracts awarded by Omai and Bosai, foreign companies which, Winter told Stabroek Business recognized the significance of demonstrating confidence in a locally manufactured product. “They recognized that apart from the fact that they were providing employment for local people, there was no need to order bulk quantities since we were right there to supply larger quantities if they were needed,” Winter told Stabroek Business.
Acknowledging that both Arawak’s financial capacity to service large orders as well as the company’s ability to meet time lines may have been issues that potential clients may have taken into consideration, Winter says that he understands the significance of “breaking into the local market in a significant way” and is prepared to pull out the stops to satisfy local clients. “If we can get the orders to justify the production I am prepared to approach the bank about financing. What we need is the opportunity.”
Prior to purchasing his manufacturing plant from a Trinidad and Tobago company that was going into liquidation Winter had secured assistance from the Linden Economic Advancement Programme (LEAP) to conduct a feasibility study the result of which had suggested that the potential market afforded by the Joint Services could render his business viable. He estimates that orders of around 300 pairs of shoes per month would sustain his plant. That target remains elusive.
Nor has Arawak fared better with the fashionable formal and casual footwear that it produces. “Unfortunately, ninety-nine per cent of the shoe stores reject what we offer because they are local,” Winter says.
And while Winter does not conceal his disappointment over Arawak’s marketing setbacks he concedes that the difficulties which the company has encountered are probably due in some measure to internal limitations. “Perhaps we started on the wrong footing. We never really secured either the financing or the volume of orders before we launched the company.” These limitations, Winter says, are common among small local manufacturing enterprises. While they may have developed the skills necessary to produce the goods which they seek to supply to local and overseas markets, many of them lack both access to finance and the knowledge associated with winning and maintaining markets.
Winter, who told Stabroek Business that his experience of the past five years has helped him to develop a greater appreciation of having a business strategy, says that he is seeking to work through the Guyana Art and Craft Producers Association to benefit from its collective effort to create an infrastructure that can help the industry thrive. Meanwhile, he says, he continues to receive the support of the Guyana Office for Investment (Go-Invest). He says that, among other things, he now understands the need to look more closely at pricing and marketing strategies. While he is yet to set a firm date for the reopening of his manufacturing operation, much of his time, these days, is spent training people to prepare for the second coming of the family business that had promised so much. Winter is also focusing on his own exposure to entrepreneurial training through the various forms of institutional assistance that the Guyana Art and Craft Producers Association is seeking to attract and by interfacing with other producers many of whom continue to experience similar challenges in their respective quests to develop their respective enterprises beyond the micro businesses level. Even in his condition of less than anticipated success Richard Winter says that he remains optimistic.
