National Hardware moving ahead
Guyana Chronicle
February 24, 2007
Managing Director of National Hardware, Eddie Boyer has said the upsurge in business and the congestion at its Water Street outlet prompted is decision to establish a large and spacious Super Centre at the Ruimveldt Industrial Site, where a former garment factory was located.
In an interview with the Guyana Chronicle, Boyer indicated that his company, which is one of the leading local hardware businesses, is moving in a corporate direction and wants to add to Guyana’s national pride.
Asked why he chose the location to establish the multi-million Super Centre, Boyer replied that he recognises that increasingly Guyanese are being equipped to access suburban areas as there is increased ownership of vehicles.
The design of the Super Centre, Boyer noted, has been modelled along the large North American super centres.
He said he is encouraged by the response form the public so far, and plans to expand both the commercial and production line in phases over a five-year period through investments which could reach one billion dollars. The second phase of expansion is to begin shortly.
One of the new products introduced to the market and manufactured by his company is “Thin Set”- an adhesive for ceramic tiles, and according to him the product is superior in both quality and price to regular cement used in ceramic work.
Boyer also revealed that the production of aluminium windows and doors, zinc sheets and nails will be continued and intensified.
He noted too that National Hardware was instrumental in introducing new product lines such as gypsum walls, metal ceilings and shingles, among others, and the company intends to continue introducing new ideas and products in the market place.
Boyer is also exhorting local entrepreneurs not to seek to rival each other but instead to collaborate, for in the face of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME), the competition will be from external sources, both regional and extr-regional.
One of the challenges local businesses have to overcome, Boyer said, is the availability of qualified managerial staff, and in this regard he is urging that the local private sector work towards encouraging such personnel to stay in Guyana by offering more attractive salaries and working conditions.
He offered that retaining qualified managerial staff is critical to the development and expansion of businesses.
The option of hiring expatriates is not advisable because of cultural differences, Boyer added.
The company now employs about 300 workers and with the planned expansion shortly, in excess of 50 more persons would be employed.
Boyer proudly recalled his company has been a first generation one and the ideas related to its formation have been wholly Guyanese.
It was the first such local company to offer “a self-service type hardware store.”