Local craft samples off to Jamaica for CWC souvenir standards assessment
But financing production of approved samples could stretch craft producers
By Mr. David M. Griffith
Stabroek News
December 1, 2006
Lara look alike? A piece of locally produced sculpture hopeful of winning CWC 2007 approval as an official Cricket World Cup souvenir
More than thirty samples of Guyanese art and craft have been dispatched to Cricket World Cup 2007 in Jamaica where they will each be subjected to a standards evaluation to determine their suitability for endorsement as official Cricket World Cup 2007 souvenirs. But local craft producers could still face financial hurdles in meeting the cost of producing sufficient quantities of souvenirs for the local and regional markets even if their products meet the required standards.
Stabroek Business understands the local items of art and craft that secure CWC 2007 endorsement as official souvenirs will secure automatic entry to markets in all of the participating territories and will secure international marketing exposure through the CWC 2007 website. However, it has been learnt that some craft producers who have produced samples for evaluation in Jamaica may still be unsure as to whether they will be able to meet the costs of replicating the souvenirs to meet anticipated market demand.
When Stabroek Business spoke recently with Elizabeth Deane Hughes, co-owner of the Calabash Gift Shoppe, the official licensee for locally produced CWC souvenirs she said that apart from those items that had already been dispatched to Jamaica for approval, a second batch of items was due to be dispatched shortly. Deane-Hughes said that she was satisfied that the items submitted by local craft producers were of a high standard and that they were likely to be endorsed in Jamaica. She explained that once the products were endorsed the producers would then be required to produce sufficient numbers to satisfy consumer demand. Official confirmation of the endorsement of locally produced souvenirs as CWC memorabilia is expected before the end of next month.
For local craft producers, the vast majority of whom run subsistence operations, financing a venture of this magnitude could require investments in excess of one million dollars and the likelihood of them being able to raise the capital without resort to lending institutions is slim. Several weeks ago Deane-Hughes issued a public appeal to local lending institutions to support local craft producers in what she described as a "once-in-a-lifetime venture." In response to that appeal the Institute of Private Enterprise Develop-ment (IPED) had told Stabroek Business that it was prepared to consider applications for loans based on the Institute's "established criteria."
Up until now local commercial banks have been silent on the issue, however, a craft producer with whom Stabroek Business spoke said that she had approached a commercial bank and her application had been turned down. She said, however, that she was still hopeful that the banks would come to understand the significance of Cricket World Cup to Guyana and reach out to craft producers.