When Stabroek Business met with Sarran Lallbachan at his Charity office on Saturday he was ‘sitting in’ for his father, Kumar who he told us is currently out of Guyana. That leaves the younger Lallbachan as the man at the helm of a significantly diversified business enterprise that includes a gasoline station, a creole restaurant, a hardware store, an ice factory, a Western Union franchise and most prominently, a thriving Fish Port at Charity. Last December, a Meat Centre was added. Taken together, the business complex is named Big Bird and Sons.
It had begun with the Fish Port in 1997 and we had engaged Mr. Lallbachan over the weekend primarily to learn more about how the fish business was faring.
Our earlier conversations with businesses owners on the Essequibo Coast had begun with Essequibo’s Second Agriculture and Trade Fair staged by the local Chamber of Commerce and after that the state of the Essequibo economy as a whole. With regard to the Trade Fair the businessmen with whom we spoke proffered a sort of we-believe-it-could-have-been-better-supported kind of answer though they were mindful for the patronage of those who came to parade and hopefully market their goods and services and for the presence of a ministerial representative (Business Minister Dominic Gaskin) from Georgetown.