When COVID-19 struck Sandra Craig, the proprietor of SS Natural Fruit Flavors and one of the country’s more dynamic coastal agro-processors, she was in the middle of contemplating a major leap forward. Arising out of her presence at a product display event in the United States, her popular barbecue sauces manufactured from local fruit had attracted more than passing attention from a potential investor’s interest in Canada. She had been invited to take her talents there, to ‘work her magic’ and afterwards to ‘have a go’ at the Canadian market. It could have meant, she had told the Stabroek Business some time ago, “an important breakthrough,” not just for herself but for local agro-processors as a whole.
When we spoke to Sandra earlier this week she had not yet put behind her what she sees as an opportunity delayed rather than an opportunity missed. She had, however, already come to terms with the fact that what had been one of the more successful condiments to emerge from the local agro-processing sector in recent years, had been ‘halted in its tracks’ and that while she felt the it would rise again, life and her living had to go on.
