Dear Editor,
A Surinamese company is coming to Guyana to set up a modern Bakery. They are doing so on the basis of a $US4 million loan from IDB Invest, which is a division of International Development Bank. It is like Costco or Home Depot coming to Guyana. This Bakery will come in with the latest technology in bakery, high output, low unit cost, and superior management – better customer relations etc. Many of the local Mom and Pop bakeries currently serving Guyana will come under heavy competitive pressure, a few will go out of business. It happens whenever a large, better funded foreign company enters a small developing country.
Normal reaction from Guyanese: Wow, what happened with the local entrepreneurial class – are they sleeping? Does Guyana want foreign entrepreneurs to come in here to do traditional businesses which Guyanese can do for themselves? Is this not a humiliation to the Guyanese people? I have been informed that many new bakeries opened in Guyana in the last few years. The market for bread is saturated. So, could the market absorb another bakery without putting others out of business? Foreign investors should be welcome to open new non-traditional businesses that require technology and use local raw materials to produce a product for export. That will boost economic growth. Examples: Use our quality hard/soft woods to make high end furniture for export; use paddy-plant stalks (left in the field after harvesting) to make utility paper and carton boxes; open canning factories for fruits and vegetables, canning local fish products for export.
Government should open a division in the Ministry of Industry and Trade, geared to nurturing an entrepreneurial class, help them with government-backed loans, managerial and marketing skills etc. Such a program will pay big dividends for the Guyanese nation in a few years. In the 1970’s there was something called Small Industries Corporation – its goal was to raise up an entrepreneurial class. SIC failed not because the concept was unfeasible, but because of bad management. All the wrong folks got loans, the Ministry did not help business proprietors and partnerships with improving their management and marketing skills. It is time to dust off these plans from the 1970’s and breathe new life into them.
Sincerely,
Mike Persaud