Booker tate | guyana

The economy of Guyana was dependent on sugar in the 1980’s, as it represented a third of the GDP and 85% of the foreign exchange of the country. The collapse in sugar prices, together with the degeneration of the industry performance was catastrophic for the Guyanese people. In 1988 Booker Tate was asked to take over the management of the sugar industry to save the economy of Guyana

The story of the rescue of the Guyana sugar industry is told in Mark’s upcoming book but an extract, including part of an interview with Meredith Belbin refers to it here:

"Mark: Booker Tate was asked at the end of the 1980’s to take over the management of the Guyana Sugar Industry (Guysuco) and we signed a contract to manage it in early 1990.  The industry was in serious decline with production having fallen by half from 324,000 tonnes in 1978 to 168,000 tonnes annually in 1988. Since 85% of all sugar was exported this was the largest source of foreign exchange and the fall in production thus had a dramatic effect on the economy of Guyana generally. The industry was often on strike. I cannot remember exactly what provoked the strikes but I recall several of them, smaller strikes of several weeks each.  After each one fewer agricultural workers returned to work. We decided to find out why.  As it turned out, some of the striking employees went out fishing and discovered that they could earn more with a few fish than when they were being paid to work.  So there was no point in returning to work.

Meredith: There was a real dilemma here. So what was your response?

Mark: There only seemed to be one answer. We needed to pay the workers more to save an industry which was so important to Guyana. Since 85% of the revenue was exported it dawned on me that we had to devalue the currency drastically from about 33 Guyanese $ (G$) to 45G$ to the US dollar. Only then could the company afford the plantation workers a decent local wage.

Although relatively young at the time, I had no other solution apart from giving up the sugar industry so decided to present the proposal to the President of Guyana, Desmond Hoyte. He was very open and saw the merits of the proposition.  As a result he asked me to travel with his Minister of Finance to Washington to present this proposed devaluation to the IMF and the World Bank. Together we were able to get agreement to this and to secure a loan enabling us to rebuild the sugar industry and the economy generally. It was a real tipping point in the history of Guyana. 

This wonderful memory remains with me.  It was a case of doing what was right for the country, and quickly. Luckily, the President was a clear and logical thinker.  So it all worked out well and, following this devaluation and improved management, the sugar production in Guyana doubled between 1990 and 1999.  This proved very instrumental in saving the overall economy.

Meredith: I get the impression that in the course of performing duties in the undeveloped world you learned something of fundamental importance about two subjects.  One is about early human communities.  The other is about the fragile nature of organisation.  The picture I get is that you intensified your interest in primordial and tribal society, never missing an opportunity to learn more.   It was a remarkable opening of a career for a young man.

Mark: I felt that I had been lucky. It seemed that a number of opportunities had crossed my path and I took them. I was also asked to be one of the first non-executive directors of AMSCO. This was set up by the World Bank in 1989 to provide management advice to African companies in the private sector. It was a pleasure to make my experience more widely available. I learnt a lovely expression from the Chairman of Nestle, who was the other private sector director.

Meredith: Which was?

Mark: He said “good judgment comes from experience, but experience comes from bad judgment”. I always liked that.  I had so often thrown myself into new challenges and had made many mistakes from which experience develops."