By Joel Bhagwandin
REFERENCE is made to a letter published in the Stabroek News (SN) edition of August 28, 2022, by Gary Girdhari with the caption “it seems strikingly inappropriate that highest institution of learning in bed with biggest rum producing enterprise.” I am flabbergasted as to why SN even carried this letter given that it prides itself as a newspaper that champions the cause for businesses, especially small businesses, and has several weekly columns dedicated to business articles by various distinguished authors.

The University of Guyana (UG) is not the Universal Church of Guyana and it’s not an institution for children. It is the premier tertiary academic institution in Guyana where its students are adults.
The author sought unashamedly to discredit one of Demerara Distillers Limited’s (DDL) Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives, namely the “DDL Foundation” in partnership with the University of Guyana. To this end, Girdhari went onto to portray this initiative as though it is some grave crime and further implies that the CSR initiative is a facade. By so doing, however, the author exposes his deep ignorance about DDL’s history and the role it has played in the economy – especially through the contributions of the late Dr. Yesu Persaud, an entrepreneurial legend in Guyana.

DDL’s CSR activities are in no way insincere or a facade. DDL’s history goes back over 300 years. In 1983 the late Dr. Yesu Persaud played a founding role to form DDL through the merger of Guyana Distillers Limited and Diamond Liquors Limited. The late Dr. Yesu Persaud also founded the Institute of Private Enterprise Development (IPED) in 1983 and Demerara Bank Limited in 1994.

To date, these group of companies have contributed enormously towards building and shaping the economy of today, by creating hundreds of direct jobs, paying billions in taxes over the years, and supporting the growth and development of thousands of businesses, as well as supporting thousands of indirect jobs and businesses that depend on the company’s operations through the supply chain and the entire value chain for the past four decades.

From an academic perspective, DDL is one of the best companies locally that I often refer students to look at for their case study assignments for their business management studies and MBA assignments simply because it is one of the best performing companies financially; it’s a public company which means its financial and other strategic information are readily available. The company’s management is even accommodative to facilitate students’ surveys for academic purposes.

I can personally attest to this because I am a former business and financial management lecturer at various tertiary education institutions in Guyana. DDL is also a good case study company to teach entrepreneurship and I often use DDL as an example where there are many issues and case studies drawing from the company’s growth over the decades that can be used as very good case study examples.

I should mention, too, that DDL is one of the best public companies for anyone to invest in stocks right now.
I wish to also point the author to another huge initiative that was well covered in the press that DDL is championing, that again, will be for the greater benefit of the entire country. I am referring to the World Trade Centre which is scheduled to open in February 2023. It was reported that DDL, earlier this year acquired the licence for the establishment of the centre.
Editor, I wish not to get into the religious debate, I will leave this for another time if deemed necessary.