Denmor Garment Manufacturers

Dec 05, 2021 News

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…The female-driven enterprise making its mark on local and int’l fronts

By Rehanna Ramsay

Kaieteur News – Whenever people mention Guyana and speak of its bounties, they are often speaking about the nation‘s vast agricultural and mineral resources. The conversation rarely, if ever, mentions the skills and manufacturing industry and this may be justifiable given the small and often not noticeable capacity the country has in this field.

Yet, one cannot overlook, the efforts of entrepreneurs in this regard, and while many may not be aware, Guyana manufactures more than just rice, sugar, bauxite, gold, and diamond products. A small sect of Guyanese has for several decades also engaged in the art of garment manufacturing. Their efforts, though praiseworthy, often go without due credit.
As such, Kaieteur News is today placing the spotlight on one of Guyana’s leading garment producers, Denmor Garment Manufacturers (DGM) Inc., a 98 percent female-owned and female-driven enterprise located at Coldingen, East Coast Demerara.
This publication recently caught up with the company’s Director and Company Secretary, Ms. Upasna Mudlier who shared some insight on the efforts of the business which was established in 1997 to primarily provide employment for women who were struggling economically.
She told Kaieteur News that before the company was remodelled with a female executive team, it began under the stewardship and guidance of her late father, Dennis Balkisson Morgan Mudlier.
She explained that, “the company started to be available to provide jobs for women from impoverished rural communities. Denmor has grown from 250 to over 1,000 employees of which 98 percent are women. It provides employment and training to empower and elevate these women out of poverty.”

INTERNATIONAL SUPPLIER
Mudlier noted that when the company first started it was to supply the export market. “We employed hundreds of women because we supplied mainly the US market. We have worked for brands like Victoria Secrets, Fredrick’s of Hollywood, Russell Athletics, Ariat (safety) Industries, Capezio, Walmart, to name a few. We provided the labour aspect for these companies in where they provided the fabric and other material, and we cut, assembled, packaged, and exported back to them,” Mudlier explained.
She added that, “We manufacture tailored to the needs of our client. You can come with a picture or a drawing or an idea and we bring it to life.”
She revealed that DGM’s work was done through a trade agreement called the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) which allowed everything to come into the country with duty-free concession.

TAKING A HIT
In 2016, however, the DGM Director said that “the company took a hit,” after the CBI trade agreement dissolved and DGM was forced to scale back on its production. According to Mudlier, “Since, the company was not fashioned to supply the local market, when that happened the company took a big hit…we lost all our contracts and were forced to lay off over 160 mostly female workers.

We also had to shut the doors of our second location which is located at Tain in Berbice.”
But not one to let the hard work of the family business go to waste, the Mudliers — Upasna, her mother Fatma, and her sister Serojinee Mudlier-Persaud – decided to restructure the company to suit the needs of the local and regional markets.
“So, we had to introduce ourselves to potential new clients on those markets. We created a Facebook page and a website and started engaging in networking events to meet with other companies. We started to get work from the Georgetown Public Hospital, we did bed sheets for them, the Ministry of Local Government we did some uniforms for them, the Ministry of Natural Resources, some private schools, the national school of dance we did their leotards.”
Added to this, the company started to bid for work whenever the possibility arose and “we were able to work a host of companies including Farfan and Mendes, Banks DIH, MCG Investments that’s the Giftland power plant company and the Cheddi Jagan International Airport,” she said, adding that the factory also produces clothing for designers such as Sonia Noel and Olympia Small.
While the company no longer has the export market, Mudlier says they are still hopeful that a restoration of a trade agreement could lead to DGM supplying external clients again.
“Our company is continuously working to grow to greater heights and get our foot back into the US market,” she said.

THRIVING ON REFERRALS
In the meantime, the DGM Director noted that the company has been thriving on referrals. “After the trade agreement changed. We no longer had any long-term contracts or clients with these companies. We just did the work and they would come back to us especially if they liked the product or they would refer one of their partners or clients to us,” Mudlier said.

She added that “the company continued to thrive on referrals.”
“We are now manufacturing for local and regional markets. We manufacture from lingerie to safety wear and everything in between. We do curtains, table cloths, safety wear uniforms and we work with from small to large scale businesses and try our best to work with our clients,” Mudlier said.
In addition to this, she noted that the company buys most of its material locally.
“We buy locally. Most of the materials come from Shamdas Kirpalanie, Gobin’s Variety, R. Shukraj and Son, and even the Stabroek Market.” Mudlier said that though DGM has been essentially restricted to supply locally, the company is committed to maintaining and continuously improving the strict quality standards and excellent value for money.
“We achieve our goals through our quality management techniques and standards that Denmor has fashioned over the last 24 years. We engage in continuous self-testing and regular inspection of our product. We have been certified by UL and Walmart,” the Director added.
Mudlier noted too that the company was able to win the award for safety and two national quality awards from the Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS).

THE FPSO CONTRACT
Given the commitment to quality, in 2020 DGM was one of two local companies to secure contracts to manufacture a total of two thousand coveralls for construction workers in Singapore.
“Our company in 2020 secured an international contract to manufacture safety coverall for workers constructing the Prosperity FPSO in Singapore. The workers are supporting the construction of the Prosperity, which will become the third floating, production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel in Guyana,” she noted with pride.
Mudlier said the company was “honoured and very proud that we can be a part of this. To be able to contribute to Guyana’s economy, we are proud about that aspect, and that we are able to provide more employment opportunities for Guyanese.”
She explained that Denmor is currently acquiring ISO compliance—an international standard for organisations—to be able to further serve the industry. Mudlier added, “our company was able to take advantage of the numerous courses offered at the Centre for Local Business Development in Georgetown to gain a competitive edge and serve this sector better.”
For their work with the FPSO, Mudlier revealed that DGM copped the Guyana Manufacturing and Service Association (GMSA) President’s Award at its recent ceremony.

 

 

 

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