The National Milling Company (NAMILCO) recently celebrated its 40th anniversary, which incidentally coincides with the period of our 43rd Independence Anniversary, indeed has a proud record, through its innovativeness, determination and effective management, as one of the most successful local manufacturing enterprises despite the severe odds it came up against during one of the most terrible periods in our commercial and economic history.

This company has undoubtedly demonstrated that with vision, creativity, astute management and a will to survive one could emerge successfully in the sphere of business and commerce and expand as well even under extremely trying conditions..

In this regard, at a reception last week to mark 40th anniversary milestone, CEO of the company, Mr. Bert Sukhai made a very pertinent observation: “We have come a long way since 1969. At that time we were producing 100-pound bags of flour in cotton bags and these bags were washed and converted to shirts and other forms of clothing and also hammocks. In the old days when grandparents, parents, children and grandchildren all used to live in the same house, buying hundred pounds for the week was the norm. Those who could not afford that much or had smaller families were able to buy smaller quantities in brown paper bags repackaged by the dirty hands of the shopkeeper would use 14 ounces to the pound and the consumer was less wiser.”

“As time went by, less members of the family lived in the same house so buying a full bag of flour was too much and more consumers resorted buying flour in paper and later plastic bags. From our perspective we were worried about getting sued by someone becoming ill from eating flour that may be contaminated. From the consumer side with the advent of television they were becoming more conscious of hygiene, their rights as consumers and the need for variety. We therefore decided after careful research to package flour in smaller sized packing and we are proud to say we were the first company to do so, with rice and then sugar following after. Previously any small packaging was done by cottage industries and carried little or no label. Today we have 18 different products packed in nine sizes of packaging and we will be launching another four products in July.”

So it is clear that the company has been responding to the dynamics of the market in a tangible manner-a key and essential factor in being able to remain competitive in the business arena.

One would recall during the oil crisis in the 1970s the Japanese auto mobile industry was able to respond effectively by redesigning its cars to meet the need for lower fuel consumption, while their US counterparts remain stuck in their old production mode and nearly collapsed.

Without the capacity to adapt and respond to the ever changing dynamics of the market businesses would be unable to survive much less expand, And in this regard NAMILCO has been outstanding on the local scene.

Notably too Sukhai has signalled his company’s intention to tap the Brazilian market with the advent of the Takutu Bridge, announcing that it has already requested that flour be included in the list of items to be allowed into Brazil duty free under the Partial Scope Agreement.

This is certainly a commendable move by the company and will certainly boost the company’s earnings and help it to expand even further thus creating all the other benefits that flows with expansion of export and trade.

But the company has not been focusing on pure economics and commerce only. It has also been a good corporate citizen and during the severe global commodity price rises the company worked collaboratively with the Government to maintain the price of flour on the local market at the lowest possible level for the consumer. This was alluded to by the Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, Manniram Prashad.

NAMILCO has certainly been a pace setter in the local manufacturing sector and other local companies should strive to emulate its exemplary performance.