The shifting patterns of economies across the world are redefining the post-retirement options of salaried workers. The sedentary option of relaxing at home and looking at television, attending to grandchildren, may also be seen by some retirees as ‘payback’ for what, over many years, had been denied ‘quality time.’ For other retirees, however, a tilt at entrepreneurship may well be seen as a viable option, an opportunity to ‘top up’ existing pensions and whatever savings might have accrued over a protracted period of paid employment.
Increasingly, post-retirement ‘excursion’ into business is being seen as a preferred option, access to investment capital and state of post-retirement health being among the primary determining factors. Retired midwife, Vanessa D’Aguiar-Lowe, who resides at Siriki Sands Upper Pomeroon River would appear to have been fortunate on ‘all fronts’. Having taken leave of her professional pursuits, Vanessa moved straightaway to register her business under the name Sand Flower Products, the name Sand Flower having been borrowed from a flower.
Her move into agro processing realized relatively early success. Last July, five (5) of her eight (8) Sand Flower Products acquired the Made in Guyana mark, a citation bestowed by the Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS), the products having satisfied a set of quality and product presentation criteria set by GNBS. The products that have acquired the Made in Guyana Mark Certificate are the Acai Berry Wine, Plain Cassava Bread, Garlic Cassava Bread, Garlic and Parsley Bread and Cherry Wine.
These days, the business would appear to have gotten into its proverbial ‘stride,’ under the management of Xuxa, Vanessa’s daughter. Astute management aside, Vanessa attributes the progress that the enterprise has realized up to this time to the technical and entrepreneurial support that she received from another Agro Processor, Rosamund Benn, who trades under the name, Pomeroon Rose Products, and Dr. Maxine Parris who has been instrumental in building the profile of the Women Agro Processors Development through her sustained and assertive advocacy.
Recent enhanced motivation was derived from feedback received from Barbados for a ‘repeat’ supply of Cassava Bread, the product’s first promotional exposure outside Guyana having been realized at this year’s Barbados Agro-Fest event. Manager Xuxa says that the products – Acai Berry Wine, Plain Cassava Bread, Garlic Cassava Bread, Garlic and Parsley Bread and Cherry Wine, among others, were all on display at the just concluded Heritage Month Exhibition which was held at the Sophia Exhibition Centre. Asked about market appeal she simply responded… ’reasonable.’
Manager Xuxa (the name which means Lily) told the Stabroek Business that prior to retirement Vanessa (her mother) had participated in a workshop hosted by the Rural Enterprise and Agricultural Development entity (READ) during which, among other things, she was briefed on the virtues of Acai berry which has now become a part of the company’s manufacturing process. The READ experience – its purpose being to improve the social and economic conditions of households, small-scale producers and vulnerable groups – has turned out, Vanessa says, to be invaluable to the growth of the Sand Flower enterprise.
The Acai Berry experience has also been a memorable one. The Berry had hitherto become known for their profuse growth in the area and for it being pressed into service by slingshot-armed youngsters hunting birds. These days, the Berry has become a key ingredient in the wine-making pursuits of the community. What Sand Flower Products has done is simply taken Acai–laced wines to another level. The Berry, reportedly, is blessed with anti-oxidant properties and their upgrading properties that render them ideal for wine-making.
For Vanessa, full-time entrepreneurship came in 2020. It was in that year her venture became a registered business enterprise, officially named Sand Flower Products. Over time, new products were added incrementally – Cassava Bread, Cherry Wine, Acai Oil, Garlic Cassava Bread, Garlic and Parsley Cassava Bread. It was evident that, over time, Sand Flower Products was operating as a substantive laboratory, preoccupied with the continual ‘turning out’ of new food products.
Still to arrive even close to optimizing its potential Sand Flower Products is still at the stage of a small – arguably even micro – business operation. The ‘factory’ produces approximately 12 gallons of Acai wine per quarter and four hundred (400) packages of cassava bread per fortnight. Vanessa and Xuxa work alongside a part-time employee. Time permitting, Vanessa’s husband often ‘pitches in’.
Not least among the company’s challenges are its constant encounters with the vagaries of the weather that ‘play games’ with some of their production processes, not least the drying of considerable volumes of cassava. It is essentially a challenge that derives from the technology limitations associated with the absence of an electricity-powered drier. Here, a remedy must await the affordability of acquiring an electricity-powered drier.
The supply and costs of cassava, incidentally, also have a significant bearing on the operations of the company. Wines too, given their protracted fermentation periods, are usually only ‘seasonally’ available. In Georgetown, Sands Flower Products can be found at the Guyana Shop, Mattai’s Food Mart, Cross Cutters and Andrews Supermarket. They can also be bought at the Women Agro Processors Development Network at 18, Brickdam, Georgetown (Telephone number 681-4302).
