Private sector must unite
-declares new GMA President
Stabroek News
July 16, 2004
New President of the Guyana Manufacturers' Association (GMA), aggressive, no-nonsense, Doreen de Caires sees her first challenge as that of uniting the private sector.
"The first step will be to get the private sector to come together and speak with one voice. We also have to be recognised as having a role to play. If we do not have that, we would be wasting time. We need to consolidate our position and aggressively pursue what is best for the country and the economy," the 64-year old publisher said in an interview with Stabroek Business last week.
De Caires, who is behind the success of Guyana Publications Inc, publishers of the Stabroek News and Sunday Stabroek, was the unanimous choice of manufacturers at their recent annual meeting as the candidate for the Presidency. The GMA broke with tradition in naming a woman to the top post and de Caires will be meeting with her counterpart, Yesu Persaud, the new Chairman of the Private Sector Commission (PSC) this week to forge ahead with the issues at hand. She also intends to speak with the Chambers of Commerce.
She sees the challenge ahead as "tough", given that she assumes the mantle at a time when the economy is stagnating and the private sector is fragmented.
"I will give it my best shot. But I cannot do it alone. All business-persons have to come out and support and come forward with suggestions and solutions and not just their criticism," de Caires said.
She believes the business environment needs to be improved for investments to take place and says while the government has gone some way in creating this environment, more needs to be done to encourage the private sector to expand and invest to create new jobs. She cites as one impediment the lengthy process to clear containers off the wharves.
"The economy, manufacturers and businesses suffer from the incompetence and a lack of interest on the part of the clearing agencies (to facilitate businesses)," de Caires said.
She also noted the disadvantage the high cost of electricity, the instability of the Guyana dollar and the high cost of borrowing, have on businesses which also have to battle the loss of skilled workers, including management personnel, due to emigration.
"A lot of companies are stagnating as it is very difficult to expand in a hostile and poor economy," de Caires said, noting the lack of training facilities, and the high rate of taxation which add to making local products uncompetitive.
But to have change and improvement, she recognises the need for a united private sector as well as for a buy local campaign.
She intends to work with her counterparts to address all these areas and does not see a conflict in her role as publisher of an independent newspaper which is often seen as critical of the government on one hand while working with the government in her role as President of the GMA.
"I see my roles as complementary," de Caires, who was initially regarded with suspicion in the GMA because of this, said. She said it took several years for her manufacturing colleagues to recognise that she is a publisher and not the editor of the newspaper and does not influence nor contribute to the editorial policy. The initial fear that anything said in the meetings she attended would have made the front pages of the Stabroek News was short-lived.
"I am not an editor of the newspaper and I always try to live right and do good so God will not make me one," de Caires quipped, quoting Mark Twain.
Her company has been a member of the GMA for the past 17 years and she served as the Vice President in the last two years. She has also been interacting in that capacity with a number of government agencies such as the Inland Revenue Department. She has also held the position of chairperson of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation since 2000 and has been a member of the Tiger Bay Rehabilitation and Relocation Committee since 1994.
Being the first female President of the GMA means nothing to her except for congratulations to the members for breaking tradition and recognising that women can also make a contribution. But she is honoured that her colleagues have such confidence in her and made the appointment in her absence. "My colleagues have always been totally supportive."