AS the COVID-19 emergency measures remain in Guyana as a means to flatten the local curve of the pandemic, businesses in Lethem, Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) are trying to do what they can to adapt and survive until he situation returns to normal.

A few business-owners spoke with the Guyana Chronicle recently, telling of their losses, alternative incomes and expectations on how their situations can be improved.

A DIFFICULT CHOICE

Since 1993, Linda Khan retired from the post of Deputy Head Teacher of the St. Ignatius Secondary school and took up, fully, her supermarket business — the Savannah Inn –- which has been in operation for the last 30 years.

Understandably, she said that as a result of the international travel ban and the locally implemented curfew, persons are not visiting her business as usual. The pandemic has cut off the town from Brazilian customers and shortened the pockets of locals.

“Because of the lockdown, you’re not having the customers that you normally would get on a regular basis. The Brazilians are not coming and the people from the Savannah outlying areas are not coming and, because of the time that you have to close…business is very, very slow,” she said.
The reality has led Khan to the crossroad of deciding whether or not she should let go of some of her staff. The businesswoman and former teacher has not been able to bring herself to do so.

“You don’t know who to send home because two of them are husband and wife, so if you send them home, both people suffer and there’s no income from any other place. I didn’t send any [home] because if I send them, what will they do? I am committed to them. These workers started working with me from young,” she said.

As an alternative for survival, she relies on her farm where she rears chickens, ducks and fish and grows organic vegetables. Over at the supermarket, she does what she can to ensure that she and her staff are protected from the virus and is happy to note that 99 per cent of the persons who visit the supermarket wear face masks. She believes that with consistent adherence to the measures in place and control of the Brazil border until the pandemic subsides, Guyana can return to normalcy.

ADAPTING TO SURVIVE
Lincoln Lamazon, who has been managing the Lincoln International Trading variety store for 13 years, said that he has had to cut down on 50 per cent of his staff as a result of the pandemic. He averages that he has experienced a 30 per cent drop in sales, but noted that essential items, which would previously remain on the shelves for quite some time, are going much faster. Under the conditions, his business now experiences an average 20 per cent turnover.

Lamazon has worked to make his business safe by sanitising often; installing hand-washing facilities; making hand sanitisers available; educating his staff about sanitary practices and providing them with masks. He was keen on noting that operating costs have increased.
“We can continue to work within the timing that was proposed to us opening and closing, for now. It still makes sense to work but, if things get more serious and they [extend the measures] then that will determine if we continue in business or not,” he said.
Lamazon understands that the COVID-19 pandemic is new to Guyana and the rest of the world and therefore hopes that persons adhere to the health protocols in place to eventually flatten the curve of the virus.

Over at C&T Variety Store, business-owner Carlton Beckles said that he has realised the need for a shift in his business into “survival mode” by restocking with necessities instead of luxury items such as the latest household appliances.

Like the others, Beckles said that his business has seen a decline in sales due to a drastic reduction in the number of persons traversing the region. He averages a 75 per cent decline in customers and also notes reduced spending capacity due to reduced household income. Meanwhile, his staff now works only four hours per day.

“It has affected me greatly financially because, what you find now is that your turnaround time, in the case of you having to replenish your stocks and so forth, it is much longer. Even sales, I would say sales have declined by about 75 per cent on a daily basis,” he told this newspaper.

He plans to keep his capital intact, so that when the COVID-19 situation recedes, he can restock his shelves with the usual items.

“The virus is here with us and will be here with us for a long time, it’s how we go about things,” he said. There is some stigma associated with the virus which might discourage persons from admitting that they are experiencing symptoms or getting tested and the business-owner wants this stigma to be done away with,” Beckles told the Guyana Chronicle. He also wants the National COVID-19 Task Force (NCTF) to examine the curfew and possibly extend it to 20:00hrs and also establish that a few other businesses may be necessary.
ALTERNATIVE OPPORTUNITIES

Meanwhile, others have turned to creative means to make a living. Shammah Noel started his pizza business, ‘Apizzall’ in 2018. He took a break but had reason to re-start in 2020 following the pandemic. He told the newspaper that he capitalises on the fact that Lethem does not have many fast food avenues and those which were previously available are now closed due to the pandemic.

However, the majority of his business needs come from Brazil which has been shut off from Guyana. Through the once-a-week established system of authorised transportation of goods, he gets some access to these needs.

Compared to his operations in 2018, he has experienced a 25 per cent decline in customers as he has noticed that some persons prefer to hold on to their cash rather to spend it on pizza.

“I have considered that this is a pandemic and this is how business is for me now and it’s not been bad,” he said. Noel is a student at the University of Guyana and an avid radio broadcaster, but with things slowing in those regards, his pizza business is an alternative for survival.

He stated: “For the comfort of my customers and for the comfort of myself as well, I would wear a mask when doing deliveries and doing deliveries reduces by a great margin the chances of getting the virus opposed to having eating-in.”

Noel looks forward to an end in the curfew so that he can meet the needs of customers, many of whom are now being turned down if requests are made after curfew hours.
Not too far away, Peter Alves has been operating the Ori Hotel and Restaurant for the last 12 years. He said that the pandemic has “tremendously” affected his hotel which sees almost no customers at the moment. He attributes this to a great reduction in the number of passengers from Georgetown, Brazil and overseas, visiting the region. “One good thing is that the bank has given us a waiver of six months because we’re into heavy loans with the bank and that really threw us off balance,” Alves said.

When it comes to the restaurant, he said that business is slow and no longer do persons sit-in but take food to go. “Most people aren’t socialising as before, coming out and sitting down and having lunch or snacks, they can’t do that,” he said, adding: “We already chopped our staff to leaving a minimum of 25 per cent working and I don’t know how long more we can go on. If we get a two months more like this, after that two months I don’t know what will happen.”

Alves also plants and uses the produce for his business. However, he has had to lay off 50 per cent of his planters. With the bank waiver giving his business additional time until September, he hopes that business can bounce back to normal by then. He also hopes that the government will provide businesses like his with relief finances to keep afloat. In the meantime, with hand-washing facilities in place, he encourages his customers to utilise them to stop possible spread of the virus.