City Location Would Boost Business
The Small Businessman
MARK MARS, 27, has been in the electronics business for six years now.
He wants to move up in his chosen field but the lack of proper business accommodation in the city is hampering his progress, Mark says.
He has, as a result, been forced to work with a private establishment and conduct part of his operations from home. “This is a disadvantage,” he says, “because I cannot accept as many work orders as I would like to.”
Mark repairs any type of electronic equipment and has maintained an interest in electronics from age thirteen. “I used to follow the footsteps of a qualified electrician who has now migrated, but who taught me all the tricks of the trade,” he said.
The small businessman explained that he obtained most of his formal training from the “Sanco Electronic School” in Antigua, where he studied for 18 months.
Apart from repairing electrical equipment, Mark states that he is engaged in buying and re-selling such equipment and also operates a poultry business.
He notes that he does not encounter much difficulty in conducting his operations, but said that materials used to repair electrical equipment are very expensive and that most are obtained only from traders.
Mark says that some pieces of essential equipment are priced at between $3,200 to $60,000 — not very affordable to most small businessmen. He claimed that import licences are difficult to obtain and declared that it is about 50 per cent more profitable to import than to rely on traders.
He feels that if he can find a suitable location for his business, in the city it will be a boost for him and also enable him to employ persons.
Mark who does video filming as well, resides in John Street, Campbellville where he carries out electrical repairs.
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How many poles are rotting?
Extracts from a viewpoint by Ian McDonald delivered on January 30, 1985.
THE other night, near to where I live a pole carrying a transformer fell down. There was a flash of light and an explosion, and the whole neighbourhood was plunged in darkness. I was told the next day that the pole had rotted through and through. How many of the thousands upon thousands of similar poles around the country are in a similar state? Is there a systematic programme of checking and replacing them? No doubt there is. I certainly hope so.
In any business there is nothing more important than providing for depreciation and replacement of assets. If such provision is inadequate the business will be headed for trouble in a big way as its productive capacity, along with all its infrastructure, wears out year by year. In Guyana, running the country is by far the biggest business of all so there is no need to stress how vital it is to make the necessary provision for preserving and renewing the nation’s assets as replacement becomes due.
In a time of rapid inflation it is particularly easy to slip behind in making adequate provision for proper replacements. Capital costs seem to escalate much faster than the current means of generating the surplus cash to meet these costs. The result is that simply not enough is saved in the present to ensure future viability. Immediate demands on income tend to take precedence over demands pinpointed for some time in the future. After all, if we don’t survive now we won’t have a future, will we? Politicians, in particular, with an impatient constituency snapping at their heels, must inevitably, I suppose, view present pressing woes more seriously than gradually accumulating future problems. It is an understandable, but often far too easy line to take.
Another reason why assets in place tend to run down is that putting up something new always seems, more glamorous, and somehow more contributory to the national effort, than keeping old assets up to scratch.
But the dull old work of doing no more than keeping what we have in good working condition, and gradually making improvements, has to be done. Otherwise, we will be like the man who impresses his friends with all the knick-knacks he has got but in whose house the plumbing doesn’t work, the roof lets in the rain, and the foundations are gradually sinking.
And so we must by force return to the rotten pole that fell down the other night and the question how many more there may be about to fall. Such a question – extended to all our other solid national assets already in place like sewerage works and telephone exchanges and basic road and river transport and port facilities and water supply installations — such a question is perhaps the most important one this nation, like so many other poor nations, needs to answer.
GAC Hunting For Extra Aircraft
After A $30m Profit For ‘88
By BERT WILKINSON
FACED with mounting criticism about the unreliability of its single B-707 aircraft, the Guyana Airways Corporation says it has stepped up negotiations with several aircraft companies to acquire a second compatible aircraft for its international fleet
General Manager Ken Cumberbatch said yesterday the company which will record a pretax profit of more than G$30m last year, is examining several options and hopes to be able to make an announcement soon.
“We are talking with several companies to get compatible aircraft to suit our needs. We are looking at B-707, 757, 767 and DC8s. We have also talked with BWIA and SLM, but they do not have any to lease at the moment. We really want to make our service more reliable,” Cumberbatch said in response to last week’s breakdown of its 707 in Barbados.
The airline lost G$18m in 1987.
An official corporation statement said yesterday that a damaged high-pressure oil seal over Barbados Friday, forced the crew to land at Grantley Adams International Airport to effect repairs. The aircraft has since been flown to Miami, while a Rich International and a Nation Air DC-8 have been leased to take care of the North America service in the meantime.
Elaborating on plans to acquire a second plane, Cumberbatch says this is extremely necessary since the corporation recognises the importance of its service to Guyana and the need for a reliable service.
He would not be drawn on a date for concluding a deal, but indicated that this would also help improve the corporation’s takings.
“We recorded a loss of $18m in 1987. Up to the end of November, we had made $28.3m and we are confident that it will exceed 30. This will, of course, be our biggest ever profit even though 45 per cent of revenue is made up of local dollars, but 90 per cent of our expenses are in hard currency,” Cumberbatch told Stabroek News.
He attributed the turn around to new marketing strategies, the expansion of services on profitable routes and the discontinuation of others. Devaluation may also have helped.
“You must remember that we expanded on the Canadian and US routes last year. And the money we will make in ’88, will come despite our not operating a domestic service for nine months.”
Flour Hard To Get
Bread Prices High
DESPITE slight improvement in output by the milling company this week, the flour crisis continues and bread is fetching as much as $40 a loaf at street vendors.
Sources said electricity was diverted to the East Bank, Demerara flour mill for some extended periods and this facilitated milling of wheat stocks on hand.
However, the flour is being allocated mainly to bakeries, and for housewives and others on the run for the item, the search remains almost a nightmare.
Some imported brands of flour are beginning to re-appear on the parallel market at prices of around $60 a sack.
The opposition Working People’s Alliance (WPA) in the meantime is demanding that the “responsible minister” make a statement about the short supply of flour on the market.
“There is a hunt on for flour and rice in all communities and the Ministry concerned seems not to be concerned,” it added.
According to the WPA the military community at Timehri, on the East Bank, Demerara are among those ‘hard hit’ and “complaints of general food shortages are widespread” there.
The opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Monday also continued its demonstrations outside Parliament building and street protests against the food shortages and the continuing electricity crisis.