| By Dale Andrews While the name Guyana Quartz Sand Inc. is not known to many, the company is fast carving out a huge reputation for itself in the local and regional sand and stone industry.With a new one-of-its-kind conveyor off-loading and on-loading system, located on the East Bank of the Demerara River at Soesdyke, Guyana Quartz Sand Inc. has managed to overcome great challenges.Joseph BhaskaranSuch were the challenges that had it not been for the perseverance of its owner and his dedicated Guyanese staff, along with the confidence shown by a local bank, Guyana Quartz Sand Inc. might not have been in existence today and securing the employment of more than 35 workers.It would be safe to say that the new facility was realized out of adversity suffered by Joseph Bhaskaran, a Sri Lankan-born Canadian citizen, who can now claim the right to be a Guyanese.A previous facility which was built by Bhaskaran is presently the subject of a controversial litigation, brought on by his former business partner, and maybe, it was a good thing that it happened that way.Guyana Quartz Sand Inc. now has the capacity to load 70, 000 tonnes of sand per month on to barges destined for various Caribbean markets and an off-loading facility for stone that could handle 20,000 tonnes monthly.Construction of the facility commenced in June last year, using almost exclusively local material.Three months later, after toiling day and night, the workers were loading the first barge of sand for export.In a recent interview with the businessman, to coincide with the launching of Mining Week, this newspaper learnt that he initially had not started out to deal with sand, or for that matter, in anything to do with the Mining Sector.Joseph Bhaskaran came to Guyana in 1991, and married a Guyanese with whom he has a son.Initially, he had owned an ice factory and a seafood processing plant which was located in Berbice, a project which he had financed through personal funds and a mortgage from the then Guyana Agricultural and Industrial Development Bank (GAIBANK).In 1998 he sold that business and moved his seafood operation to Coverden, East Bank Demerara, where he also operated a sawmill. In 2006, he ventured into the then lucrative scrap metal-buying business and began exporting the commodity to other parts of the world, and it was during this period that he met a foreigner who would later become his business partner.Together, they ran a company called Start Metal Trading Inc., and using the facility near the bank of the Demerara River, which had acres of space for storage of material, the venture was profitable.Guyanese ingenuity at work: Local fabricators work on the construction of the Guyana Quartz Sand Inc. conveyor system.“But during the procurement of scrap metal, I discovered that a lot of good materials were being exported as scrap, materials that can be utilized in the local workshops. So I came up with the idea to utilize the materials locally by creating a new business, JB Metals and Fabrication Workshop. The nature of the business was to produce impellers, hammers, cutterheads, etc. to primarily the gold mining industry and also supply steel plates and piles to metal fabrication workshops throughout Guyana,” he told this newspaper.During that time the government had instituted a ban on the exportation of scrap metal and Bhaskaran used his ingenuity to continue to make money. His business continued to grow at a rapid rate and the businessman continued to look for additional ways to utilize the wharf facility that was constructed to facilitate the scrap metal export business.But by then the scrap metal deal he had with his foreign partner had begun to show signs of declining and Bhaskaran soon came up with another business idea: that was to sell Guyana quartz sand to the lucrative Caribbean market.“I became interested in exporting sand via the conveyor system utilizing the wharf and I also had components and I possessed the knowledge to build the conveyor system.” However, he did not have the finance readily available, since it would have cost a whopping US$800,000.Try as he might, securing the finance for such a huge project posed a huge challenge, but he could not let the opportunity slip through his fingers. Eventually, using money from his own pocket, he ventured into the unchartered waters of building a sand-loading facility.He was in luck, though, for he managed to acquire material for the project from a very favourable source. He had identified the major components for the conveyor system in the East Montgomery Mine site in Linden.“I applied to the Prime Minister to purchase the materials.The new facility can also offload quarry products.He came and visited my fabrication workshop and wharf location at Coverden in July 2008. …following that visit, my proposal was accepted by Cabinet and I was awarded approximately 10,000 Metric tonnes of scrap metal in the East Montgomery Mine site,” Bhaskaran explained.That was the real beginning of hard work.Soon Bhaskaran was able to secure some financing from his local bank,Richard Wright Manchester City Jersey UK, the Bank of Nova Scotia, along with a hire purchase agreement with Jumbo Jet, enabling him to acquire the sand pit and machinery necessary for the business.Using local expertise, Bhaskaran completed the construction of the conveyor system and commenced the loading of sand for export in February 2009.Money started to flow in, and before he knew it, Bhaskaran began encountering difficulties with his partner, leading to a bitter fall out that end up in the court.In fact, Bhaskaran was personally barred from the Coverden, East Bank Demerara facility.But the facility continued to load sand, resulting in the partner trying to forcibly bring a halt to the operations.With the help of some Presidential Guards, the partner invaded the facility and commenced a demolition job which was only halted when the police intervened. In the meantime, the facility at Coverden had wound down operations.An ensuing court battle almost forced Bhaskaran to lose faith in the business, but realizing that many of his adopted countrymen were being put out of a job, he sought to find a solution to the situation.Also realising that the court battle to settle his problem with his partner over the Coverden facility would take time, Bhaskaran made a decision to establish a new sand-loading operation at another location; this time at Block R ,Soesdyke, also on the East Bank of Demerara.Again he had to seek financing for such another huge venture.Such was the confidence in Bhaskaran’s initiative that this time the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI) bought into the project. It shelled out a whopping $187M (approx. US$940,000) for him to build a more advanced conveyor loading system.The new facility is now operating to capacity with the capability of expansion.During the time that Bhaskaran was not operating, another facility further up the East Bank of Demerara had become the only facility sand -loading facility in Guyana. (This facility cannot off-load)Now that the Guyana Quartz Sand Inc is up and running, Bhaskaran was able to reclaim most of his customers, bringing back healthy competition in the sector.“I am not here to put anybody out of business. I don’t have a problem with my competitor, we have a smooth relationship. I believe that there is enough business for both facilities to survive,” Bhaskaran pointed out.He was grateful to the local financial institutions, especially the GBTI, which continues to show confidence in local businesses.“I also want to thank my employees, who toiled day and night for months to construct this facility. They certainly show that Guyana has an abundance of talent that is not being fully utilized,” Bhaskaran said. |
