–Pegasus boss says

By Cassandra Khan
COMPANIES suffered immense losses during the COVID-19 pandemic, but local business magnate and owner of the Pegasus Hotel, Robert Badal said that good planning and cost-cutting efforts were crucial to survival of businesses.

Badal, during an episode of the Caribbean Connections Thought Leadership Facebook series made by the Caribbean Airlines, described the COVID-19 pandemic as the most difficult period of his journey as a businessman.

For months during the initial stages of the pandemic, he related, only two rooms were occupied at the Kingstown, Georgetown hotel; that meant that the hotel was simply not generating income.

Even so, management decided against closing the hotel, as that would have affected many employees, who themselves were grappling with the pandemic. Instead, the hotel’s energy bills were slashed, and they engaged in better energy management.

Additionally, the hotel sought to offer different services to secure more income.

“We renegotiated our contracts with services, so that our costs came down, and in that way, we navigated the pandemic securely, thanks to the fact that we have some reserves which we used to pay staff and keep them going towards the end of the pandemic,” Badal disclosed.

By the time the restrictions imposed during the pandemic were lifted, the hotel’s reserves were exhausted.

Somehow, the businessman was able to continue building the new Pegasus facility, located just next door. That massive US$100 million facility was opened in June this year.

“So, quietly, we were building under COVID restrictions. Being in business, I mean you have to cater for the sunshine and the rain. There are bound to be difficult times; there are going to be difficult days, and you hope that tomorrow will always bring a better situation,” he said.

The challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic were not unique to the Pegasus or even Guyana.

Badal acknowledged that other businesses as well faced the same difficulties during the pandemic. Supply and demand challenges affected economies globally, but the Guyanese businessman believed that regional economies would have been affected more, since the region is less resilient to external, economic and environmental shocks.

“The tourism and travel industry were the most heavily affected of all the sectors of an economy in Guyana, in Trinidad, Jamaica; the travel and hospitality industry, tourism has been most affected. There was a shutdown of everything; all hotels closed,” Badal said.

Outside of this industry, which was vastly affected by the closure of airports and other travel restrictions, other sectors were badly hit. There were, however, instances of business gains.

For Badal, his agricultural companies sold more feed and more rice during the period, because people were stocking up on rice among other things to distribute. He noted, too, that distributors were having a greater demand than supply.

Outside of his experience navigating the pandemic as a businessman, Badal candidly spoke about his growth as a businessman in Guyana. He has had many successes over the years, and reasoned that perhaps it was those experiences that contributed to his ability to navigate the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.