Natasha David is one of possibly thousands of Guyanese women whose modest entrepreneurial pursuits have been derailed by the gale force winds of the Coronavirus, leaving their lives and their livelihoods in limbo. What the Stabroek Business is discovering, astonishingly, however, is that many of these women have fashioned an unbelievable never-say-die attitude that is pushing back in various ways against the malady that continues to ‘shake up’ the world.
From a craft-based enterprise that embraced a range of offerings from eye-catching Amerindian costumes to attractive indigenous jewellery, Natasha is ‘fighting her corner,’ shifting gears, moving her productive focus into niches that bring opportunistic returns in the prevailing circumstances.
Operating under the trading name of David Creative Designs since 2007, Natasha’s work has gotten the attention of the craft-conscious local market and also won her a fair measure of market exposure both in the Caribbean and further afield. Covid-19 has ‘crashed the party,’ compelling her to infuse into her creative inclinations, a generous measure of strategic thinking, the reality being that what coronavirus has done is to radically alter the playing field.
These days, she still makes occasional sorties to the Main Street avenue where kindred spirits gather in the hope of at least attracting a minimal market to the craft that they offer. Practical woman that she is, however, Natasha has become acutely aware of the fact that the national (and global) circumstances have created a different mindset, so that she herself is compelled to bend with the winds of change. Diversification has been a necessity.
It was this realization that led her to immerse herself in the sewing of Face Masks, a product that quickly established itself as a ‘must have’ item once the protocols associated with combatting COVID-19 became entrenched. Natasha says that she spent much of her time in recent months sewing face masks for various entities including Iwokrama, National Printers, and the Centre for Disease Control, an opportunity for which she credits her membership of the Women in Business Group.
For Natasha, however, the coronavirus has been as much an emotional blow as an economic one. She is reminded that September is Amerindian Heritage Month and that setting aside its cultural significance, it is, as well, one of the more important earning opportunities which she enjoys through the marketing of her Amerindian costumes, motifs and jewellery.
Beyond the local market, Natasha is also concerned that what had become a growing external market for her work has dried up dramatically as the international community has turned its attention to ‘hunkering down’ in the face of the COVID-19 onslaught. Uppermost in her mind is whether and when these opportunities are going to begin to reopen with the passage of, hopefully, a relatively short space of time or whether the ‘threatened’ new normal will either push enterprises like hers into obscurity, or else compel them to fashion new business templates to fit in with what is increasingly being bandied around as an imminent ‘new normal’.
It is not too early, she believes, for the survival of those businesses that comprise the micro- and small-business sector to become the subject of aggressive public discourse in the period ahead.
Natasha David resides at 257 Section ‘C’ South Turkeyen. She operates a modest craft outlet and can be reached at telephone number 219-2050.
