Last year, Netram Ramanan decided to expand his fruit juice operation by seeking markets outside Guyana. He targeted Canada, linked up with a Trinidadian businessman there are commenced shipping a variety of locally manufactured fruit juices to Toronto. He received the full amount of money for the first order prior to delivery. On the second occasion he received a cash advance equivalent to half the cost of the consignment. Now confident of the market, Ramanan dispatched the third shipment without broaching the subject of payment. He never received a dime for the third consignment. Instead, the importer regaled him with stories about spoilage. Ramanan didn’t accept his client’s story. He believes he was cheated and the experience brought his juice export pursuits to a shuddering halt. He has not tried to export since.
Ramanan is not the first Guyanese exporter for whom problems with payments have caused business to turn sour. Two weeks ago, Leslie Anthony, who exports mangoes to Canada, related a similar tale. Last year we spoke with another small exporter who claimed he had been left out of pocket by an unscrupulous exporter.
Original Juice, the brand under which Ramanan manufactures his product, continues to find favour with the market in Essequibo and elsewhere in the country but it will take some persuasion for him to export again.
Ramanan inherited the business in 1982. It was started by his father who simply pulped the fruit, cooled and bottled the juices and sold them. Ramanan’s excursion into the export market meant that he had to invest in equipment for bottling and labelling. Additionally, he had to familiarize himself with a thicket of health regulations associated with the importation of food into Canada.
Local exporters, particularly emerging businesses, have learnt to understand the value of an overseas market, however small. However, it has its downside; the arrangements are often strictly bilateral, without a reputable distributor, and based purely on trust. Things can go wrong.
Having had his first experience Ramanan believes official initiatives should be taken to protect the interests of Guyanese exporters.
Still, Original Juice soldiers on. The enterprise has been around for more than 40 years and apart from the disappointment associated with its first export initiative, it has survived what, over the years, has been aggressive local competition.
Juice production levels currently stand at 300 gallons a day and Ramanan says he is hoping to go to 2,000 gallons a day.
The enterprise provides juices extracted from the full range of locally produced fruit and Ramanan’s expansion plan includes the acquisition of a mobile fruit juice extractor. He believes that the acquisition of such a piece of equipment will enable the far greater distribution of his juices and will also better position him to occupy space on local supermarket shelves, hotels and restaurants. Ramanan is currently seeking to source the equipment in several countries including Brazil, India, China and the United States.
A 16-oz bottle of original juice is retailed for $300; a price which Ramanan admits is above that of his competitors. But he believes the quality of the product he offers justifies the price, a view which he says is justified on the basis of the number of repeat customers.
While Ramanan’s father Nanan is believed to be one of the early pioneers in the industry, retailing cane juice at the Anna Regina ‘high bridge’ during the early 1970s, Ramanan says that he was not originally inclined to follow in his footsteps. Part of his working life was spent as an accountant in the employ of GuySuCo. He remained in that job for five years before eventually recognizing that inheriting and further building a business of his own would, in the longer term, be far more financially rewarding. After he took control of the business in 1982 he relocated to Charity. The reason had to do with the closeness of Charity to the Pomeroon where the fruit was plentiful and cheaper. It was only then that the name Original Juice was given to the enterprise.
Ramanan measures the progress which the enterprise has made on the basis of the increase in the volume of fruit juices produced by the company since 1982. Then, production stood at 20 gallons per day. Thirty years later production has shot up to 300 gallons. The acquisition of machinery apart, Original Juice employs 15 persons.
Recent years have brought new challenges. Original Juice has not been spared the consequences of the ‘gold rush’ as Essequibians join other Guyanese in making off to the interior. In the case of the ‘Cinderella County’ some farmers are leaving their farms behind. The scarcity of fruit has forced Ramanan to increase the scale of his own cultivation. He is currently cultivating cherries, bananas, sugar cane, coconuts and plantains on 30 acres of land at Grant Burthrum in the Upper Pomeroon.
Ramanan says he is concerned that unless steps are taken to arrest the increasing migration to the interior resulting from the ‘gold rush’ farming on the Essequibo Coast will be in crisis. His concerns will be hard to sell, however. During our visit to the Essequibo Coast we met a young woman, a former employee of Original Juice, who told us that she now earns $300,000 every six weeks as a cook in a mining camp.
Over time, Ramanan has enhanced his personal capacity to manage his business enterprise. He has attended management courses at the Kuru Kuru Cooperative College. Subsequently, he attended two Food and Drink exhibitions in Toronto arising out of which he has identified what he believes are new potentially lucrative markets. Whether or not he takes the plunge into the export market again will also depend on the availability of air cargo transport.
For the time being, Ramanan is content with being a big fish in a more modest local pond. Hard work has resulted in the penetration of markets at Port Kaituma, Moruca, Wakapoa and the Pomeroon River. The Essequibo Coast has long been a captive market. He is currently dialoguing with Sterling Products Ltd with a view to entry into the urban market.
Ramanan says he has had enquiries from Caribbean territories regarding possible regional exportation. He insists, however, that he will not pursue those enquiries unless he is persuaded of the reliability of intra-regional cargo flights.
Two agents supply bottles for the juices; one imports them from Suriname.
Ten years ago, Original Juice was decorated with the Best Manufacturer Award by the Institute of Private Enterprise Develop-ment (IPED). Last November, the enterprise received the President’s Award from the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association for its contribution to the agro-processing sector. Recognition weighs heavily on Ramanan’s shoulders, pushing him towards ever higher standards.
