It has been sixteen years since Prestige Manufacturing and Bottling Enterprise at La Grange, West Bank Demerara opened its doors. It has since grown from strength to strength but attracting well-educated workers remains a challenge.
Ramanand Prashad, managing director of the company, says a high number of applicants, mostly 16 to 30 years, are illiterate.
"And this is a worrying factor for me....It is a sad, sad scenario." Prashad says the compnay is increasingly using computers for its operations and that means they cannot hire workers who struggle to read. He strongly believes that more needs to be done for today's youths and praised a National Policy course taught in schools years ago that taught community values.
Prestige started with three or four full-time workers and now has 15 to 20 employees.
The family has engaged in many other activities including cattle and rice farming as well as the retail business.
But in 1988 the company began to manufacture essence. "The art of making essence came from my grandfather," says Prashad, whose grandfather was a Hindu priest and a chemist.
The company started with almond and mixed essences then expanded to mustard oil, hot and Chinese sauce then to vinegar. Recently, green seasoning, tamarind chutney, jams and jellies, cassareep and mango anchar were added to the list. In his view, the company is probably the only one which manufactures mango sour and tamarind chutney.
Prashad says this expansion came as a result of customer requests. Apart from manufacturing, they also bottle methylated spirits.
Banks DIH Ltd., Salt and Pepper Restaurant and Graham's bakery are among many large entities that buy essence. Prashad estimates the company has 60% of the essence market and for the other products, apart from those introduced last year, around 40%.
Besides sponsoring television programmes covering cricket and religious items, no other direct advertising is undertaken. But this year the company marketed its products at trade shows in Barbados and Toronto.
"There is tremendous market potential in both countries," Prashad says.
In Barbados some six to seven companies indicated interest in Prestige's products. However, the company is working toward supplying one of these buyers at the moment. For Toronto, the problem is there is no direct shipping route. But items can be trucked from Miami, USA or be shipped to another Canadian province although at a higher cost.
Sending the product in bulk to be bottled in Canada is also another option. The company is not ready to give up the glass bottles used for its products.
Using plastic bottles will not be considered until a later date, Prashad says, since some products are suitable for plastic but products like jams and jellies need glass.