WHEN it was known that the legendary Dr Yesu Persaud would be retiring as Chairman of Demerara Distillers Ltd (DDL), the business community and the shareholders of DDL were worried as to who would succeed HIM. It was only when Dr Persaud himself emphatically announced that his deputy, Komal Ram Samaroo would be succeeding him that a buoyant spirit of hope and optimism again suffused the company. And when it was known at the Annual General Meeting after Mr Komal Samaroo’s first year as chairman that DDL had made its highest annual profits so far, everyone knew that Dr Persaud had chosen a worthy successor.

Mr Samaroo’s management of his company has been eminently successful and this is seen in the growth and profitability of the company even in trying times. Two important aspects of DDL and Mr Samaroo’s activities are however never given the same notice as profitability – First, the seriousness with which DDL and Mr Samaroo take their Corporate Social Responsibility and second, their commitment to upholding the historic role Rum has played in Caribbean history and upholding the fact of rum being the wine of the Caribbean just as whiskey is the wine of Scotland or champagne that of France.

Mr Samaroo’s commitment to corporate social responsibility was seen, for example, when he committed $4.billion to the development of Guyana’s agriculture, especially fruit-farming, with TOPCO, a DDL subsidiary, providing a guaranteed market for all produce. He did this although the Ministry of Education had shortly before removed the contract from TOPCO for supplying the School Feeding Programme with juices and then giving it to a Suriname-based company.

DDL’s commitment to corporate social responsibility has been even more seen during the present COVID-19 pandemic. As soon as the pandemic struck, DDL recognised the need for sanitizers and its laboratories produced Environ, an effective alcohol-based sanitizer. They established a production line for Environ and Guyana, unlike several other countries, became self-sufficient in sanitizers in a timely manner.

As Chief Executive Officer of DDL, Mr Samaroo, donated 12,000 litres of Environ sanitizer to various institutions around Guyana such as Senior Citizens Homes, orphanages, night shelters and prisons. In addition, approximately 260 five-gallon containers of Environ were donated to Health Emergency Operation Centres and public agencies such a health centres, hospitals, post offices and police stations. DDL also supplied each of its thousand-plus employees with a quota of Environ. DDL’s meeting the country’s need for sanitizers in such a timely manner has shown the value of national alcohol security and also since alcohol forms the bases of many medicines such as cough syrups and tonics.

When Mr Samaroo was elected Chairman of the West Indies Rum and Spirits Producers Association (WIRSPA), some two years ago, in his inaugural address, he enjoined drinking in moderation or not at all if there is any indication that a drinker could become addictive. Some colleagues at the time quipped that Komal, a major producer and seller of rum was outdoing the churches, mosques and temples in their own preserves!

It was in that same spirit of Corporate Social Responsibility which Mr Samaroo had shown in Guyana that became manifested by Rum producers throughout the Region who have manufactured 500,000 litres of alcohol-based sanitizers and cleaners for donations and distribution. This initiative by Caribbean Rum producers in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic has made Trinidad, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Barbados and Suriname and all the smaller islands self-sufficient in sanitizers and have put the rum and alcohol producers in the forefront of the fight against the pandemic.

Caribbean governments had long taken the rum and alcohol industry for granted and never clearly understood the necessity of having national alcohol/rum security. Mr Samaroo, in his address to the American Chamber of Commerce, reminded of this truth: “If ever,” said Mr Samaroo, “there was a need to make a case for the rum industry, COVID-19 has done that because, within days of the outbreak of COVID-19, rum producers across the Caribbean reoriented their production to produce high-strength alcohol to be used as sanitizers to meet an urgent need that arose in Society”.

The Rum Industry has been devastated by the COVID-19 Pandemic since it has a symbiotic relationship to the Hospitality Industry which has now greatly contracted and liquor shops, bars, restaurants and hotels have all been largely “shut down” worldwide. When normalcy returns to Caribbean economic life, it is expected that Governments will facilitate the massive investments required to rehabilitate the Industry and at the same time to make grants in developing brands, an investment by the government which will bring in more taxes and foreign exchange.

Mr Samaroo’s words encapsulate this concept: …”This is a major challenge, because our Industry has been historically one of supplying bulk, and it is only in the last 15 to 20 years that we’ve been pioneering brands, moving higher up the value chain”.