Here are three business owners, with three different perspectives on the effects of Covid 19. The Stabroek Business will be engaging more small businesses on the COVID-19 ‘experience’ in the weeks ahead. .
As small Business owners in the various sectors prepare to rebuild their businesses which, over the past two years (plus) have been ravaged by the covid-19 pandemic Stabroek Business will be reaching out to some of them across the country in order to get a better understanding of how the pandemic affected their livelihoods and where they plan to go from here. Here are the first instalments of their stories, told Stabroek Business that Covid 19 in 2020 and the floods in 2021 have crippled her business – Agro Processing and
Michelle Richmond of Green Diamond Foods, Jacklow, Pomeroom River:
For Michelle it is quite simply a matter of starting over. Her agro-processing enterprise which offered casareep, plantain flour and carambola fruit mix among other products has simply ceased to exist. However, she persists with her farm from which she continues to harvest avocado, cassava, plantains, banana, watermelon and pumpkin. Market demand has persuaded her to introduce lemon grass and capadula and these have been a reasonable success. The floods of 2021, she says, made an already bad situation worse. It wiped out the crops in the ground including many of the high-value permanent trees.
Last September she received $100,000.00 from government to assist with replanting. Needless to say that was insufficient. To make matters worse after the re-planting had been completed the rains returned and flooded the farm again. They re-planted for a second time and ‘true to form’ the rains came again.
Coping with the challenge of persistent bad weather and, as well, the emotionally demanding experience of the covid-19 virus was an exacting task.
She notes that the authorities are currently upgrading the drainage and irrigation in the Pomeroon river and believes that if this is properly done it could mitigate the effects of the flooding.
Sonia Sears, President, Aranaputa Processors Friendly Society (APFS).
Covid 19 has strangled our business which has been in operation since 2005. “Our main market was the School Feeding Programme. We were providing Nut Butter to to the schools in the North Rupununi district. Our other two markets were the Guyana Shop in Georgetown and S & S Kissoon Supermarket in Annai, Region 9. While we continue to produce nut butter to supply the Guyana Shop and the Supermarket in Annai these cannot compensate for the loss of the school feeding programme,” Sonia says.
Sonia told Stabroek Business that ‘to add insult to injury’ the eight thousand pounds which the group had stored for future use had to be dumped.
Prior to the advent of COVID-19 the group purchase aroung 8,000 pounds of peanuts from local farmers. Purchases have now been slashed to 1,000 pounds. Workdays have been reduced to between two and three days per week.
The Group is uncertain about its future in the post-covid era.
Sursattie Paul; Fresh Packers
Sursattie has been offering assorted snacks and spices for the past twelve years. COVID-19, she says, was “a struggle” but she has survived. Beyond that she was even able to see her products adorn the shelves of two additional supermarkets.
Sursattie is currently working with the Guyana Marketing Corporation to improve her packaging and labelling. She is happy that some of the Covid 19 restrictions have been lifted and hopes that business continues to ‘pick up’.
