Ramdat Sookraj has the wizened appearance of a man who has been a fixture on Guyana’s commercial landscape for more years than he cares to remember. Still, he continues to serve, like a dutiful sentry, showing up at his post and putting in his fair share of effort, albeit at a lesser level of intensity than in times past.
Some of the memories of his landmark years in business have faded somewhat. That is not altogether surprising. This is his 43rd year in business as the proprietor of R Sookraj & Sons on Regent Street. Prior to that, he had been in the business of selling merchandise, primarily fabrics, for over two decades. Ramdat Sookraj is in his 77th year.
At the age of 12, he was pulled from school by his older brother and pressed into service as an apprentice at a dry goods store at Uitvlugt, West Bank Demerara. That was the only store on the West Bank that sold textiles and Sookraj says it attracted customers “from Hubu to Vreed-en-Hoop”. The working day began at 6 am and ended at 2 am the next day. It was here that he secured his education in the commercial pursuit that was to shape his own career as a businessman. Over time, he developed an appreciation of fine fabrics and other apparel imported from abroad for sale on the local market.
After ten years in his brother’s service, the two parted company. Sookraj invested his accumulated savings of $240 in the purchase of fabric in Georgetown and commenced his own enterprise on the West Coast Demerara. His savings had proven too meagre to adequately stock his new business and after several failed attempts to secure credit from city merchants who had done business with his brother he finally struck a deal with a Water Street businessman named Mr Majeed that allowed him some credit to purchase quantities of cotton.
In 1962, Sookraj acquired the Monarch Cinema at Anna Catherina. His involvement with the cinema industry was short-lived. “I failed miserably,” he said, in a tone which suggested that this was an episode in his business career which he prefers to forget.
In the same year, Sookraj made a number of key business decisions. He sold both the Monarch and his West Coast business; the latter to a nephew, for $4,000. Thereafter, he relocated to Georgetown having acquired a property in Lombard Street from a merchant named Mr Mekdeci.
Having established a fixed business address in the commercial centre he then assumed the role of a travelling salesman, packing his small car with fabric and journeying to Berbice and later to Linden to ply his trade there. His wife, meanwhile, proved a competent partner, running the Lombard Street enterprise while he was on the road.
Those were the days of building a strong urban clientele amidst the difficulties of the domestic political strife that spawned the general strike of 1963 and the ensuing civil disturbances. Sookraj’s recollections of those days include the worrisome to-ing and fro-ing through police road blocks on the East Coast Demerara on his way to Berbice.
On November 6, 1970 Ramdat Sookraj opened the doors of his current premises at 108 Regent Street for business. His experience of earlier years quickly made him one of the leading fabric merchants in the city. Shortly thereafter he acquired 40 second-hand sewing machines from the United States and opened Sooksons Garment Factory. The factory’s Ruby briefs and nightgowns sold well both locally and on the regional market.
Steady growth was punctuated with occasional setbacks. Sookraj recalls that during the early days of his Regent Street enterprise, break-ins were frequent and losses considerable. He recollects eight such incidents. Still, he persisted, managing to do well enough to pay his staff and to secure the services of a watchman.
The 1980s brought their own challenges not least of which were the foreign exchange restrictions imposed by the Bank of Guyana during the economic decline of the period. With that crisis came the attendant difficulties associated with acquiring the imported fabric and specialised items of clothing that had become the bread and butter of the Sookraj enterprise.
Quitting was hardly an option. By now, Ramdat Sookraj’s destiny had already been determined by a course that had been set even before he was a teenager. He rode out the storm and, in fact, it was during the period of the squeeze on foreign exchange exports that the culture of the cambio emerged. That became what has proven to be a successful addition to the Sookraj enterprise.
The turn of the century was to bring its own major challenge. In 2001 the Regent Street premises was destroyed by fire. Still, there was no question of giving up and in a relatively short period of time R. Sookraj was up and running again.
Ramdat Sookraj reviews the years with a sense of accomplishment. He appears most animated recalling the days of a local clothing culture dominated by reputable imported brands of suits, hats and shoes; and his encounters with the dressers of the era.
At 77 and subdued by his years, Ramdat Sookraj acknowledges that these are different times. At R Sookraj and Sons the concession to change is reflected in the presence of his three sons, Mickon, Ricky and Aston who have assumed operational control of specific aspects of the enterprise.
The changing of the guard is reflective of a mindfulness of his own mortality, and Ramdat Sookraj has effected that change with the awareness of an entrepreneur who continues to believe that his considerable experience is still required in an era when the experiences of yesteryear can be an invaluable asset in the contemporary decision-making process. He no longer bestrides the enterprise like a colossus, but has clearly retained an unobtrusive but unquestioned authority as the man whom, over the years, put the pieces of a successful business together. Whatever the business model that currently drives R Sookraj & Sons, the presence of its ageing founder is meant to symbolise the axiom: ‘experience teaches wisdom’. Having dispersed authority amongst another generation, he has been mindful not to displace himself from the matrix.
Nor is it a matter of simply refusing to let go. You get a sense that he remains relevant, that his mental sharpness coupled with his experience of the twists and turns of what can sometimes be an unpredictable business environment is still valued and applied by the contemporary managers of the enterprise. It is no longer a rigorous nine to five routine, but Ramdat Sookraj can still, frequently, be found in his office, allowing him to stay abreast of day-to-day operations.
Contemporary management team
Ricky Sookraj, an ‘old boy’ of Queen’s College and a St John’s University, USA graduate symbolises the contemporary face of the Sookraj enterprise. He is mindful of “the building phase” that sets his father apart as the architect of business. His own thoughts, however, reflect a sophisticated understanding of how the commercial landscape has changed. He talks about the rise of the small trader, their energy and drive and the manner in which they have infused an enhanced measure of competitiveness into commerce. He points out, for example, that what was once a near Sookraj & Sons monopoly in the linoleum market has now been divided amongst numerous other importers and distributors. Other developments, he says, have altered the urban commercial landscape, among those being the spreading of the trading area beyond the traditional confines of Regent Street.
Like most other businessmen and women with whom Stabroek Business has spoken in recent times Ricky says that “scarce skills” have become the bane of the business sector’s experience. Competent accounts clerks, he says, are like good gold. The other two Sookraj sons and their sisters comprise the contemporary management team.
There is an air of satisfaction to Ramdat Sookraj’s demeanour. The issue of succession appears to have been settled and the responsibilities of the day-to-day grind are no longer on his shoulders. His “successors”, he says, have responded well. They have been the driving force behind the expansion of the enterprise and the current plans for even further diversification.
Sookraj revels in the nostalgia afforded by this interview. He acknowledges the contributions of his predecessors on Regent Street. Broadway Fashions, Kirpalani and Bhowani are those that he remembers best. He reflects too on the loyalty of his patrons, men and women, he says, who have helped his enterprise build a reputation which he wants it to sustain long after he has bowed out.
