The hard work of an enterprising businessman

By Michel Outridge

A VERY enterprising businessman, who has been residing at Land of Plenty, Essequibo Coast for many years, took the US$100 gift when he got married and turned it into a million-dollar company, because he had a vision and worked hard to be successful.

He is Roopan Ramotar, better known as “Rooster” or “Fowl Cock,” who has named his bottled coconut water after his childhood nickname.

Ramotar explained that as a child he was nicknamed by a friend “Rooster,” but never liked the name. As time progressed however, he got used to the name and accepted it; he later lived up to the name and has named his coconut water after it.

He added that when he got married many years ago he was gifted US$100 and invested in cattle- rearing and used to buy and sell sheep, goats and cows; he then went into logging, mining and other businesses.

He was recently elected President of the Essequibo Chamber of Commerce and wears many hats in terms of businesses he has established that employ about 200 locals.

“I have a brand of coconut water called ‘Rooster’s’ and I do 500 acres of coconut-farming in the Lower Pomeroon and I do another 500 acres of rice. I do cows, sheep, goats, and 1,000 acres in agriculture. I am among one of the biggest contractors in this country; we mostly do drainage and irrigation (D&I) work on sluices across the country from Westbury to De Willem, Golden Fleece, Berbice and a few pump stations,” he said.

Ramotar told reporters on a recent visit to Essequibo that he is also involved in logging, sawmilling and tourism, but the latter sector is at a standstill because of the small population in Essequibo. It didn’t work out as he had anticipated and had to put a hold on the resort he has at Onderneeming Sand Pit.

He reported though that Essequibo is still one of the best places for tourism in Guyana, because of its low crime rate and its hospitality.

“We are very friendly and nice people, the environment is very clean, one straight road; we have all the lakes in Guyana, beautiful farm sites, among other tourist attractions,” he said.

Ramotar told the Pepperpot Magazine that he had in the past hosted tours to his coconut farm in Lower Pomeroon for tourists, schoolchildren and others; he even gave a talk on the operation of the business and has pledged his support to the tourism sector.

“We have the tourism product, but we face great challenges in terms of transportation in getting people from Georgetown to Essequibo. The airfreight is too costly and a lot of people don’t like to use the speedboat because of the rough waters and the ferry system is a lousy one,” Ramotar said.

He explained that a lot of people visiting Essequibo would like to come in their vehicles and would like to know they can get back in time to get to work on Monday and spend the weekend in that county.

He is of the view that a special ferry service should be in place to facilitate folk to make their journey stress-free; where they can book online; where families can come to spend the weekend and go back on Sunday or Monday morning in time for work.

“This move would boost the development of Essequibo since it is predominantly agriculture – based [but] rice hasn’t been doing well for the first five crops because since we lost the Venezuelan market, which was a disaster in the rice industry, so I think with tourism we can boost economic development here and the young people can have jobs and Essequibo can be the place to come and reside,” he said.

Ramotar owns all of Land of Plenty village located on the Essequibo Coast where he has a housing development project being undertaken presently, several other businesses and his residence.

At Land of Plenty, he owns an estate of 400 acres and he is engaged in coconut processing, rice farming, lumber sales and cattle-rearing.

“I came from a farming family, but I was into gold mining and after gold prices began to fluctuate, I told my friends I was going into liquid gold business, that is, coconut water bottling, since I had the equipment. I developed the land and started it on a large scale,” he said.

Ramotar told the Pepperpot Magazine that he had one of the nicest resorts in Guyana, but will continue to contribute his bit towards tourism and will install a water park with a pool and a hotel at Coffee Grove Village soon.

At Land of Plenty, he will install a pool with a bar, the perfect landscape and perhaps a few benabs to enhance the housing area he is developing.