HANDS down, the most ubiquitous business formation on the Guyanese landscape are Chinese supermarkets. They are literally on every main road, street, lane, cul-de-sac, nook and cranny. By the very nature of life, in any field, especially if it has a major effect on economics and commerce, those upon whom it operates must take notice. It is my view that such a phenomenon should not merely attract attention; it should evoke regulatory scrutiny from government before it grows into an uncontrollable monster.
A few examples will suffice. The proliferation of small betting shops has become so ubiquitous that it had to attract some new forms of scrutiny and regulation. The ubiquitous presence of those e-bikes is inescapable and has been attracting new forms of regulatory scrutiny. Also of recent vintage, specially adopted noisy motorcycles and moving discotheques crammed in the back of cars must, of necessity, attract some new forms of regulatory scrutiny. Since I am on this issue, please allow this digression. There is a proliferation of new building contractors who face little or no scrutiny; it’s time for a regulatory framework- that’s for another column.
Back to the Chinese supermarkets. I am essentially making out a case for closer regulatory scrutiny not because of any phobia, hatred or ill will; I simply want the best deal for the people of Guyana. My first essential point is that, if for no other reason, the mere nature, pace, scale and effects of the spread of supermarket business should attract higher levels of regulatory attention, study and scrutiny. It would be foolish for those in charge of our regulatory levers to simply ignore or dismiss it as benign commerce. So, I would ask readers to hear me out.
Have you ever wondered how a Chinese national, just landed from China, knows there is a specific economic opportunity for a supermarket in some secluded back street in a remote countryside village? That is so because the Chinese government has commerce attachés working in Guyana. Their task is to study the business landscape of Guyana and build community profiles. In other words, they have economic data on communities organized and collated in scientific ways even the Government of Guyana does not have.
In other words, a world superpower is using the awesome power of its commerce department and treasury together with advanced (big) data analysis to drill down to even the commercial minutiae of individual communities. Even communities tucked away in remote locations.
So, when the next Chinese national arrives to do business, he has ready-made and up-to-date information that is backed by the confidence of his government. He can therefore boldly and confidently go to 3rd Street Line Path Village, Middlewalk Anns Grove, Lovers Lane Linden, 5th Avenue Bartica or Independence Boulevard Albouystown, knowing that his business structure and model is well thought out and his chances of success is high.
There is a Chinese Association in Guyana with a commerce arm that is also tied back to the Embassy of the Peoples Republic of China with highly trained resident commercial attachés. Together they form a formidable business coaching and guidance mechanism which allows Supermarket owners to even navigate cultural peculiarities of specific locations. All of this comes at zero expense to the Chinese national.
Further, the Chinese Government has a Department in its Ministry of Commerce that provides diaspora funding for those wishing to invest in certain countries around the world. Also, under Chinese “One Belt, One Road” program, a.k.a The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which has the entire world mapped out as one big commercial space to be influenced and controlled by China with highly specific policies for each country. Under this BRI program, there is huge funding for Chinese nationals to, either individually or via business swarms, control lanes leading to the “One Road”, with the eventual outcome to control the entire “Road”.
Even without the many other dimensions I can go into, using only the factors mentioned above means that it is impossible for ordinary Guyanese to compete with any Chinese business, especially those that operate in swarms, like supermarkets. If a typical Guyanese were to contemplate supermarket ownership, he would have to do his own market research, find his own collateral and face commercial banks for funding together with all the other antecedents. Essentially, a small family in Guyana has to compete against, not only the individual Chinese National, but also a highly organized Chinese Association, economic and commerce data research, all backed with highly developed and specialized policies from one of the world’s greatest superpowers.
I am not one given to conspiracy theories but I beg you to also spare a thought for the exponential rise in Chinese fast-food chains and community diners together with massive growth in traditional Chinese restaurants. Taken together with the ubiquity of Chinese Supermarkets and some very large Chinese farms in Guyana, this represents a controlling interest of well over 70% of our retail food consumption. Such strong ties back to the Chinese government mean that if China ever finds it strategic to its own interests, it can engineer scarcity of a particular nature any time it wants to. There is a case from the USA that may be instructive. The great American basketballer LeBron James once made a comment about the lack of certain political freedoms in China. The Chinese government was livid and simply asked all firms owned by Chinese nationals around the world, especially those that benefitted from government financial schemes, to stop doing business with any product line endorsed or owned by James. He was forced to apologise. The government of China can use this same power via its highly organised structures in Guyana to punish a particular manufacturer. Suppose the chairman of DDL makes a comment that China finds offensive; it can order local supermarkets and restaurant chains to stop carrying DDL products. I do not have to mention the ill effects on DDL if that were to be the case.
This means that a “benign” food supply structure can have far reaching effects on things such as free speech, food scarcity and even engineer specific business or community lock out. Further, I invite you to also contemplate the far-fetched (is it really far-fetched?) consistorial movie-styled event that there is a food-based epidemic engineered in a Beijing-controlled lab specifically for the people of Guyana. It would be a mistake for the government to treat this phenomenon as one unworthy of closer study and scrutiny together with possible regulatory changes to attenuate the negative effects. Much more in a subsequent column.