Ming’s Products and Services celebrates 25 years in the vanguard of corporate responsibility- President Granger

Dec 06, 2015 News

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Ming’s Products and Services has been heaped with praise for being in the vanguard of corporate responsibility through which many humanitarian organisations have benefited tremendously.

Friday evening the company’s contribution to Guyana was celebrated by President David Granger and many well wishers as it marked 25 years of existence on the local shores.
Among those present were First Lady Sandra Granger who joined with the Ming family, proprietors of Ming’s Products and Services (MPS) Limited to celebrate the silver anniversary at the Pegasus Hotel, Kingston.
The event was also attended by Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo and his wife, other Cabinet members as well as scores of Guyanese and members of the Diplomatic Corps.
President Granger noted, “We have a company that is not afraid to engage with the community that is not afraid to be a visionary, that is not afraid to be a pacesetter and this is what we have seen from MPS over the last 25 years,” the President said.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MPS Limited, Stanley Ming, sharing how MPS has developed a close relationship with the residents of Tiger Bay by partnering with them, through health and investing in their children’s education, noted that the lives of over 300 children from Tiger Bay and its environs were insured.
Through this initiative, the residents of Tiger Bay were able to access private medical attention at no cost to them.                      “Our continuous investments in the community have certainly paid off; we could not have been where we are today had we not worked with the community the way we have,” Ming said.
Tatsuya Fukamachi, speaking for the Yamaha Motor, Japan, offered congratulations to the company for almost singlehandedly changing the face of outboard motor marketing in Guyana   from the then dominant brands from the USA.
He said that at the time that the Mings started, Yamaha Motor was striving to expand its international business. Its products, including outboard motors, were in the process of becoming accepted in certain regions and Guyana was a market of the future.
“A meeting with Mr. Ming changed the destiny of Yamaha Motor in Guyana… Mr. Colin Ming fulfilled the needs of customers to whom outboard motor engines were essential for daily life, thus amplifying the sales of Yamaha Motor outboard motors on a grand scale,” Fukamachi said.
He also noted that through the efforts of the Mings, outboard motors are an absolute necessity for transportation in inland and coastal areas of Guyana. Mings Products and Services imported 2000 units in 2012, a record in Caricom countries.
Flashback: Humble beginnings
MPS was incorporated on October 24, 1989 by Christopher Ram and Company, Michele Ming as the Secretary/Director and Ming, as a Director, each with one share.
Reflecting on his beginnings Ming said that the company started business on February 2, 1990, with support from June Mendes who provided the upper floor of the Farfan & Mendes building in Urquhart Street, for which the monthly rental was $8,500.
In February, 1991, the company purchased the properties that were originally owned by the Guyana Transport Services Limited.
Like every new-born venture, MPS, in its early life, had to endure teething issues centered mainly on its chosen base of operations. Customers were wary of venturing into that part of the city for fear of their personal safety.
Tiger Bay, due to the perception of it being a haven for questionable characters was considered as a turnoff. Security issues became a top priority for Ming.
However, instead of investing in sophisticated security systems, high fences, barbed wire and armed guards, MPS opted to invest in the community, through the development of good business /community relations, premised on uplifting the quality of life of the community members and by making investments in their children’s education.
“It is my humble opinion that the natural tendency of a human being is to live a normal productive life where he or she can provide the basic needs of the family, such as a home, food, a good education and facilities for the development of their siblings.
Unfortunately, when conditions do not provide such opportunities there is a tendency to pursue other means of survival, which are not in keeping with societal norms,” Ming said.
He said that it is incumbent on the business sector to create wealth and opportunities and together with the government ensure that the lesser privileged, the elderly and the sick are provided with the necessary conditions to be a meaningful participant in everyday life.
It is the company’s continuous investments in the community that have certainly paid off.
“We could not be where we are today had we not worked with the community the way we have. Having achieved business success, our company continued to reach out to the other communities, through strategic investments geared mainly toward Educational Development. I firmly believe that education is the solution to most of the problems facing Guyana and other developing countries,” Ming posited.
This subsequently led to MPS partnering with Banks DIH and Shell Antilles (Guyana) Limited in 1998 to assist children living in riverain communities surrounding Bartica, by providing them with a fully equipped fiberglass boat, which the company manufactured along with a Yamaha 75 HP engine, and the first year’s supply of fuel, to facilitate their attendance at the Bartica Secondary School.
“Over the years we have partnered with several other business entities including Fix-it Hardware, German’s restaurant, New Thriving restaurant, school of the nations, etc., in several projects throughout Guyana and beyond.”
Beyond Tiger Bay a green, modern Community “Isika” beckons
According to Ming, his company MPS intends to diversify its business activities, with the acquisition of Land, South- West of Parika, East Bank of the Essequibo River.
“At Blake (325 acres), we intend to expand our operations and build a green and modern community branded ‘Isika’, an Amerindian word meaning, ‘to give’.”
The residents of Isika and the surrounding communities will be provided with the opportunities to be employed, to have ready access to medical services, educational and recreational facilities etc. Within the same space- a sustainable green community, Ming assured those gathered.
“I view this part of the country as the gateway to the interior and its future development. It sits close to the mouth of the country’s largest waterway, the Essequibo River, where the first settlers, the Dutch, set up a trading port in the 1700’s.”
Parika has been and will continue to be the gateway to the Essequibo Coast, including Charity on the Pomeroon, to the major agricultural production areas, the forestry industry, the gold mining industry and the tourism industry.
In Ming’s understanding, the Del Conte alignment along the East Bank of the Essequibo River which was originally envisioned by Dr. Cheddi Jagan over 50 years ago, is now being given serious consideration for construction in the not too distant future. (Mondale Smith)

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