The Stabroek Business has begun the year by drawing attention to two modest manufacturing entities that have set out to raise standards in a sector that has been performing sluggishly for several years.
South American Coco is a single proprietor entity that runs a modest operation manufacturing cosmetic and dietary coconut oil. JJV Cellars runs a wine-making entity at Coverden, East Bank Demerara.
Both entities rely on the utilization of local raw material, mostly fruit and both have invested small but not insignificant sums in equipment acquisition, packaging and labelling.
What, arguably, is most significant about these two entities is the obvious time, money and effort the proprietors have sunk into product presentation, so that both sets of products have already secured an impressive market appeal locally. And as we reported in this issue of the Stabroek Business, one may be about to enter the regional market in Jamaica.
The point about product presentation can, on course, hardly be exaggerated in circumstances where North American and even regional expectations have been sending unmistakable messages on the importance of goods that are pleasing to the eye. Just this past week a Canada-based Guyanese importer of local condiments, told this newspaper that while there are cases in which the quality of condiments produced in Guyana might be higher than some manufactured in other countries, we lose out “big time” when it comes to product presentation.
The truth in that observation is borne out in much of what manifests itself on the local market including sub-standard bottling and labelling and packaging (in the case of spices) of what, in some instances, is the lowest quality. In the case of those locally manufactured products displayed and sold by the Guyana Marketing Corporation’s Guyana Shop – and while the entity is providing a useful service by stocking the products – some of the products are so poorly packaged that, in their present condition, they stand no chance of commanding any sort of advantageous attention on the international market.
Interestingly, the pleasing standards of product presentation arrived at by South American Coco, JJV Cellars and quite a few others, appear to have been reached largely or perhaps even solely through the efforts of the manufacturers themselves who, thanks to exposure through travel and the internet, are now much more aware of what it takes to provide their product with consumer access beyond the modest market that is Guyana.
What is emerging in the manufacturing sector in our view is a situation in which technology and investment are not keeping pace with market demand so that the equipment and the expertise are simply not there to meet the expectations of small manufacturing entities, which, themselves, cannot afford the costs associated with product presentation. There have been some modest attempts made, with the assistance of external agencies, to stage programmes aimed at raising product presentation standards. These, however, have only affected relatively small numbers of manufacturers and at any rate there is no evidence that these have been game-changers.
Nor should we be unmindful of the fact that the Guyana Manufacturing & Services Association (GMSA) ought to be playing a far more prominent role in product promotion, though our own enquiries with some local manufacturers suggest that the GMSA may well be suffering from a considerable crisis of confidence. There is, too, the potential of the Small Business Association, to utilize its funding influence to steer small agro-producers in the direction of placing greater emphasis on product quality, packaging and labelling though, at this stage, we are hard-pressed to say just when the grant facet of this state-administered project will kick into gear.
Now that there is real evidence that small local manufacturers are prepared to invest in higher standards it is more than high time that government assumes a greater share of the responsibility for investing in higher standards of product-promotion and in upgrading food safety monitoring standards by enhancing the capacity of the Food and Drugs Department. As for the GMSA we believe that it would do no harm for it to review its mandate to take greater account of the importance of growing the international market share for locally manufactured products. Otherwise, the manufacturing sector will continue to underachieve.
