Guyana is up in arms this week over news that the Chinese are building a Marriott Hotel here but not employing any Guyanese in the construction work, and that we’re also going to have a Chinese TV channel; yes, Sumintra, a Chinese TV channel in Guyana. The furor is understandable (why the powers that be didn’t foresee it is a mystery), but apart from invective we can also turn humour on a subject to show how ridiculous it is. On that premise, in the two situations mentioned we should remember the old saying that not every setback is a misfortune, and that indeed out of these kinds of disturbing developments significant opportunities can emerge. Take the Marriott situation, for example.
The arrangement not to have Guyanese construction workers, a problem at first look, actually creates an opportunity in reciprocity; that’s a fancy word meaning simply “good for you, good for me”, and the reciprocity here is that Guyanese can now do business in Beijing and not hire one Chinese on the basis that those Oriental folks don’t have the required skills.
I will put it more directly. Because of the Marriott “no skills” precedent here the way is now clear, as an example, for Clinton Urling to open a German’s restaurant in Hong Kong, and bring all his staff from Guyana on the basis that Wong Ping and Soo Choy don’t know how to make our soup. Reciprocity. Clinton must be already packing his bags and applying for a Chinese visa; imagine one billion Chinese customers licking down that German’s soup, not to mention the cookup? You know how the Chinese love their rice; the cookup version only Guyanese can produce. Ditto with Guyana chow mein. Clinton will make so much money he could probably close down the Tiger Bay branch with all the parking problems.
Another opportunity waiting for an enterprising Guyanese would be to open a mini-bus service in chow mein land. China has huge traffic jam problems, but with their Guyana experience our mini-bus drivers would cut through that traffic like a
