-bakers urged to reengineer and practice first world techniques.
ONE hundred and thirty persons drawn from bakeries, fast food outlets, hotels and service providers as well as caterers from across Guyana benefitted from a one-day ‘Baking Seminar,’ recently hosted by the National Milling Company of Guyana (NAMILCO). The seminar, which formed part of the NAMILCO’s 50th Anniversary Celebrations, was held at the Marriott Hotel under the theme, ‘A bright future in baking,’ in collaboration with DeutscheBack of Germany. Among the topics discussed at the seminar was ‘The changing trends in the global baking industry’.
The challenges of the baking industry include increased concentration within the industry; trends and seasonal articles; regular new product development; shortage of suitable raw materials, discounters and in-store bakeries, and fluctuating raw materials, among others. With the rapidly developing oil industry making Guyana a more significant player in the global economy, NAMILCO hosted the workshop with the aim of equipping local service providers with the skills and knowledge needed to make it big in Guyana’s rapidly-budding tourism and economic sector.
Giving brief remarks at the seminar was Roopnarine Sukhai, Managing Director of NAMILCO, who pointed out that NAMILCO has been hosting workshops of this nature biennially, where the company would collaborate with specialist bakers to share knowledge and experiences to motivate participants to improve their businesses. Sukhai stated that Guyana is currently in the spotlight with its new found oil and investors will be entering Guyana which can both positively and negatively impact the local service providers.
“With an influx of foreigners and returning Guyanese from the diaspora, economic activities will increase and you stand to benefit. However, some of these investors may be looking at the baking and catering industry, so your livelihood could also be threatened,” he explained.The Managing Director stated that it is the duty of the local service providers to protect their markets through re-engineering their businesses and practicing first-world techniques, which NAMILCO is heavily focused on currently.“We cannot continue doing business how we do it presently, changes must take place,” he reiterated.
Giving tips on how service providers can be successful in the economic and tourism sector, Sukhai said businesses must improve on packaging; emphasise on marketing and promotion of trade; commence producing a variety of products; attempt obtaining international certification and observe good manufacturing practices.“Do more marketing and promotion of your business, learn to differentiate your products and business. Differentiation creates value, builds brand loyalty, makes competition irrelevant, gets you noticed, give your consumers a reason to buy and it generates good word-of-mouth which money cannot buy,” he added.
The one-day workshop also served to introduce a variety of NAMILCO’s puff pastry products and new varieties of baked goods to the market. Guest speaker at the event was Captain Gerald Gouveia, Chairman of the Private Sector Commission, who championed the initiative which he views as a form of empowerment to local service providers.
“This type of intervention and training and preparation will continue far into the future. The only constant is change and all of us need to continue improving our standards, not only because it makes us better, but because it prepares us for what is before us,” Gouveia said. Referring to Guyana as the “destined Dubai of this region,” Gouveia encouraged the participants “to teach our politicians to stop fighting, work together so we could improve the economics of our country, reap the benefits of what is before us and particularly take advantage of the tourism industry and all of the wealth this oil will bring to us.”
Facilitating the seminar was Marc Duncker, DeutscheBack’s Regional Sales Manager for Central America and the Caribbean; and DeutscheBack’s Research and Development Officer.The German company, DeutscheBack, was established in 2004 and develops and produce tailor-made baking solutions, react flexibly to trends in raw materials and price development and offers comprehensive technical services.
Source: Guyana Chronicle
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