Another Essequibo Coast ramble (Rainy days, jaguars, and ‘Juice Man’)

May 15, 2016 Countryman, Features / Columnists

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By Dennis Nichols
I’ve just returned from a three-week revisit to the coast of the Cinderella County. Time passed slowly and monotonously, as heavy downpours intermittently pounded every inch of the coastline. But there was enough of a respite to allow

for a bumpy trek on Mother’s Day to Red Lock and Feather Beach at the entrance to Lake Mainstay aback of Anna Regina, and the following day to Charity on the Pomeroon River, where I met ‘Juice Man’.
The day before at Feather Beach, the brief talk I had with a few women centred on the prevalence of jaguars and their preying on dogs, sheep and goats in the area. One matronly resident, although acknowledging that the big cat was on the endangered species list, had no qualms about stating her inclination to shoot and kill any such predator on sight if her precious livestock were in danger.
However on Mothers’ Day the only predators visible were a group of young men on motorcycles who tore through the entrance to the lake resort without as much as a glance at the two women stationed there to collect tolls from visitors. The wide open space at this point and the evident lack of enforcement are invitations for such transgressions. Nevertheless a family of six cruising by car did the right thing and paid the required sum.
The next day at Charity I met three men from Akawini who enjoined me to visit that remote village in order to highlight some of the problems the community faces. They felt it was Providence that had been responsible for our meeting. I promised that when I returned, and if ‘transpi’ was adequate, I would love to make the trip. Then I was introduced to ‘Juice Man,’ a well-known and popular Essequibo entrepreneur whose brand ‘Original Juice’ is spreading its tropical flavours across the country and possibly further afield.
His real name is Nateram Ramnanan, but not many ordinary folk seem to be aware of it. As that colourful Guyanese epithet suggests, juice is his business, and if he is to be believed, the people on the coast are his clients, his friends and the beneficiaries of his humanitarian streak. Last Monday I spoke with him at his outlet/snackette at Charity, a short distance from his juice manufacturing operation at Grant Berthrum on the Pomeron River.
While waiting there, I saw one example of his people-person reputation in the form of his accommodation of a one-day clinic for blood pressure and ‘sugar’ tests carried out by two nurses from the Charity Hospital; of course I took the opportunity for a quick check-up. And when he turned up a few minutes later, the easy recognition elicited and the bantering

with customers, I thought, were well-suited to his unassuming appearance. My low blood sugar reading earned me a Malta, and we began to chat.
Ramnanan, who was born in the village of Sparta, a short distance from Anna Regina, in very humble circumstances, says the juice business was really started by his father who began vending cane juice at Anna Regina in 1967. It was a family affair with the then nine year-old helping his parents prepare the canes for the liquid extraction. After completing his education at the Kuru Kuru College and working a few years at the Guysuco Other Crops Division at Charity, he admits that his independent nature led him right back to the sugary stalks, a hand mill, and his father’s expertise, in resuscitating the business in 1982, first at Anna Regina, then at Charity.
After a while Ramnanan began thinking about expanding into the production of other juices based on the advice and help of friends and associates including Pomeroon businessman, Samuel Barakat, and Dr. Leslie Chin, who took him to Suriname to study agro-processing in that area. On his return to Guyana he put that training into use by venturing into, and experimenting with, other juices including cherry, pineapple and guava. That was in 1985. At that time he was selling from a small shop at Charity, dispensing his beverages in drinking glasses.
A few years later he went into coconut water, and by then he had benefitted from further studies and participation in training sessions which helped him understand the finer aspects of bottling, labeling, and quality control among other things. He also travelled to Canada to do some marketing research. In these efforts he was assisted by various agencies and NGOs including Partners of the Americas, The Institute of Private Enterprise Development, (IPED) the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association, (GMSA) and USAID.
It was only after such experimentation and business brainstorming that Ramnanan was able to truly get his manufacturing skills and his products exposed to national and international scrutiny. Locally, this included some of the more far-flung areas like the North West District and Bartica. Now ‘Original Juice’ and ‘Hydrate’ (the coconut water brand) are well on their way to national prominence, although markets in Georgetown and other parts of the country are still being explored.
As far as exporting his product is concerned, Ramnanan says it is something he is looking at, but notes that there is a lack of raw materials – mainly the fruits he needs to sustain large-scale production. To this end he says he has been encouraging farmers to plant more fruits, as he obviously will have the capacity to take their produce off their hands. He adds that very soon he will be travelling to Brazil and Costa Rica to find out more about the latest developments in packaging, bottling, and labeling.
Ramnanan credits strong family ties with his father, wife and five children, and a sense of humanitarianism, as key areas of his success. But his own unswerving dedication to that end is hardly unremarkable. “I told myself I have to master it. (The art of juicing) I said I want to make history; long ago was only rich man name used to go in newspaper…so I decide to make me somebody, and I am somebody,” he emphasizes.
He adds that he also gains satisfaction from helping others, including several women’s groups, by training them in various areas of agro-processing, such as pickles and preserves like achar, jams and jellies, then casually remarks that he also helps people build their own homes, all of which, he intimates, are done without charge. But through it all and now even as a member of the Essequibo Chamber of Commerce, Ramnanan’s main focus is still his juicing operation.
From sleeping in a cardboard box to owning a manufacturing entity and several properties, ‘Juice Man’ has come a long way. His ‘repertoire’ now includes juices made from tamarind and golden apple as well as a special, milky concoction made with Capadulla, for men only I presume.
Between that Monday and last Thursday when I left the Essequibo Coast, the rain continued its merciless blitz. One serendipitous effect of the downpours is that the jaguars at Mainstay would probably be returning to their customary regions of predation far from human habitation, and my friend would be able to put away her shotgun.
After all, this is a celebratory month, and I’d rather see in the news headlines from Essequibo “Original Juice bags new market” than “Another jaguar bites the dust.”

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