Guyanese cane furniture manufacturer makes a name for himself and country
A GINA Feature by Beverley Alert
Photos by Royston Telford
November 30, 2004
It started out as a business housed under a tarpaulin tied to four wallaba posts. Today it is the foremost wicker furniture exporting business in the country and occupies some 30,000 square feet of space and growing. It is Samuels Wicker Works.
Six years ago, Praimroop Prasad earned his living trading from Suriname to Guyana. He brought goods from the neighbouring country and sold them here. But things were changing. The Customs Department was tightening up and the competition was getting to be too much. Prasad decided to try his luck elsewhere.
He traveled to Barbados where he met an old friend. The friend advised him that furniture from Guyana would sell in Barbados, especially the cane furniture for which Guyana is noted.
Prasad returned home. He traveled to the Pomeroon where he knew he would be able to purchase the furniture he was advised would sell. He invested in some chairs and took it to Barbados.
The buyers complained that the quality was poor – the weaves were sticking out and the cane was not treated. This would lead to termites infesting the furniture in a short while. Prasad was forced to accept the paltry sum offered just to get it off his hands. It made no sense shipping it back to Guyana.
This did not deter the entrepreneur. He again traveled to Pomeroon, but, this time he knew exactly what he was looking for – neatly woven, treated cane furniture.
Prasad checked with all the cane furniture producers in the Pomeroon, but was unable to locate what he was looking for. The producers told him that they never treat their canes and quite bluntly, they could not supply him.
Not one to give up, Prasad took the only option left open to him. He decided to start producing the furniture for himself.
He brought four Amerindians, skilled in the art of cane weaving to his home in Vryheids Lust. They brought with them a quantity of the cane that grows so profusely in the Hinterland and their few pieces of tools.
With the little money he had remaining. Prasad bought two of the cheaper tarpaulins and two wallaba posts to mount them on to create a tent that would be his temporary workshop until things got better.
He needed four posts, but could only afford two, so he borrowed two from a good neighbour. The tent was set up. The cane treated and laid out ready for work the next day.
That night disaster struck.
It was the end of the El Nino season and that night it rained. Heavy winds blew away the tarpaulin and everything got soaked. It seemed like the business he planned was going to close even before it got started.
Strong Christian believers, Prasad and his wife prayed about the matter. When her husband was going to give up, Mrs. Prasad held on and convinced him that they could make it happen.
They salvaged what they could and started to produce. They concentrated on quality work and innovative new designs. During the day, the four Amerindians he brought from the Pomeroon worked under the tent which had a new tarpaulin. At nights they slept in his kitchen. The Prasad’s and their workers all ate out of the same pot. They were like one family.
His first set of furniture was taken to Antigua. The islanders were impressed. The weave was of the highest quality and neatly done. The design was flawless but more than that, the cane was treated. Things seemed to be looking up.
Prasad returned home with orders for more furniture. However to fill these orders, Prasad needed some cash. With no collateral, the Banks were not willing to take a chance with him.
Armed with his orders, Prasad approached the Institute of Private Enterprise Development. They provided a loan of $50,000. With this he purchased the material he needed and with his faithful workers started filing the orders.
It now seemed that the business was going to make it. The little business was working late into the night filling orders. As soon as these were produced they were shipped and the money returned to the business.
However, it was not going to be this easy.
Prasad’s neighbours started to complain. When he sprayed, they said the fumes were affecting them and the spraying equipment were causing fluctuations in their electricity supply.
In trying to fill the orders, Prasad and his workers often worked into the nights, and neighbors also complained of the noise.
Prasad and his workers were frustrated. He had 12 persons working with him by this time, including the first four Amerindians.
It was then that he decided to approach the Government for help. He went to the Guyana Office for Investment (GOINVEST). Through this agency he was able to acquire a plot of land in the Eccles Industrial Site and with financial assistance again from IPED, he constructed the 30,000 square foot, two-storyed workshop, from where he now operates.
The staff has grown to 35 and almost every week a container leaves his workshop for one of the Caribbean Islands.
The business which he started under a tarpaulin is now probably Guyana’s leading cane furniture exporter. It is named after one of his three sons- “Samuel’s Wicker Works”
He exports wicker and rattan furniture, commonly known as nibbi, to most of the Caricom States. His designs come in all forms and are considered top-of-the-line. He produces furniture for every room in the house and even patio furniture.
Do not be surprised if the furniture you find so beautiful and comfortable in the hotels in St. Lucia or St. Vincent bears the name ‘Samuel’s’.
The company exports to Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Dominica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Antigua and Grenada.
Prasad takes credit for re-introducing Guyana’s cane furniture into Trinidad and Tobago. He noted that at one time, that market was not accepting goods from Guyana because they were not treated and termites were destroying the furniture.
Prasad was able to recapture the market by leaving his goods with the buyers for six months before asking for payment. When they found that his goods were not being affected by termites, Trinidad and Tobago placed some sizeable orders and is today one of the bigger clients.
In spite of his success, Prasad has not forgotten the road he has traversed. He took many chances getting where he is today.
At the time when he was trying to build his business, Prasad suffered many losses. Clients took his goods and never paid him. His first 40 foot container has not been paid for up to today. In all he estimates that the suffered between $5-7 million in loses. Sometimes he had to wait months until the goods were sold before he was paid.
Prasad credits his success to God, his wife and his staff.
According to the Entrepreneur, “God has been good to me and has seen me through the toughest times.”
When he wanted to quit, his wife stood by his side. “I was so fed-up. I could not go on. My wife said what God starts, he finishes. We are strong believers,” Prasad acclaims.
The four Amerindians are still with him and though his workers are continuously being wooed away by competitors, they prefer to stay because of the excellent relationship they have with their boss. They are made to feel part of the business and are well remunerated.
In addition to the 35 workers directly in his employ, Samuel’s Wicker Works also provides a livelihood for a number of Amerindians who supply the company with cane.
Today Samuels’ Wicker Works produces only for the export market, but come next year, the goods will be available locally.
Prasad said it is his heart’s desire to sell to his fellow Guyanese. He plans to open a showroom in Guyana that would offer rattan and wicker furniture and also leather furniture, which he plans to state producing. The entrepreneur also plans to get into the sawmilling business. Some 100 persons will be employed in the new ventures.
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