The story
Early history (1969–1998)
Prior to 1969, Guyana did not possess the manufacturing capacity to produce flour and was reliant on international imports. Between 1967 and 1969 the American agricultural conglomerate Seaboard Corporation financed the construction of the company’s flour mill site, warehousing and conveyors. This was done in conjunction with Taylor Woodrow & Associates and the Italian milling firm Ocrim SpA. Upon completion, the company was officially opened by then Guyanese Prime Minister Forbes Burnham on May 17, 1969.
Guyana was at the time under the administration of Forbes Burnham, who served as both First Prime Minister and Second President of the country, from 1964 until his death in 1985. His regime, characterised as that of an economically nationalistic strongman, pursued a state-centric development of productive output in the domestic agricultural sector. Political instability in the early post-colonial era contributed to this tendency. Between 1982 and 1988, a policy of import licensing was introduced in which importation of agricultural commodities from foreign markets, among an array of other commodities, was heavily restricted. During this time, the company’s productive output suffered as a result of a major shortage in financing and unrefined wheat flour during a sharp economic contraction in which most of the company’s wheat stock was sourced predominately via the black market.
Guyanese agricultural trade with the United States during the economic crisis fell between 1981 and 1983 as per the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), impacting wheat flour as a major import of Guyanese trade in that period. The value of Guyanese agricultural trade and production itself saw marked declines contemporaneous with a recession according to data from the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO). In 1986, the United States Department of Agriculture became engaged in the Caribbean region with its acceleration of the Public Law 480 program, which allocated food and agricultural assistance to Guyana under both Title 1 and Title 3 import agreements in order to stymie food shortages and malnutrition. Similar supply arrangements were made with other developing economies in the region; this program is better known as the Food for Peace program, operated by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) commencing in 1954. NAMILCO was able to restart production with an inflow of imported wheat to Guyana in 1986 after the finalisation of the Public Law 480 agreement and subsequent repealing of the ban on wheat and flour importation. Since then, the entire wheat supply of Guyana has been sourced from the United States on a concessional grant basis under the program.
In 1998, the company began to repackage bulk material into small-scale packaged products under the Maid Marian and Thunderbolt brand lines, the first Guyanese company to do so.
Today (1998–present)
In 2009, the company was accredited with an ISO 9001:2008 quality management system certification and observed the anniversary of 40 years of operation.
NAMILCO is regularly involved in Guyanese youth sport, actively sponsoring several competitions and teams in football and cricket codes. It is a principle sponsor of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) and acts as the principle investor in local youth sport in the country. On 19 May 2016, the company entered into a five-year memorandum of understanding partnership with the GFF in an effort to bolster the development of long-term sporting sponsorships and athletic performance in Guyana. The deal signed amounted to G$30,000,000, or approximately US$148,000. The GFF is the highest governing body for football in Guyana, comprising nine affiliated regional member organisations representing football associations at the national level.
In line with the MoU established with the GFF, on 29 April 2016 the company sponsored and launched the ‘GFF/NAMILCO Thunderbolt Flour Power National U-17 Intra-Association League’ with a commencement address delivered by the then Minister of Education Dr Rupert Roopnarine. The league was recommenced for a second season in 2019. In an address officiating the second commencement, the President of the Guyana Football Federation Wayne Forde remarked that the NAMILCO league ‘is the largest financial commitment from any corporate entity to [Guyanese] football’ and that the partnership was the first to host both an officially sanctioned male and female tournament.
In addition to football sponsorships, the company has also supported regional events in track and field, swimming, cycling, cricket, futsal, and has made several donations to schools and universities across the country.
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The facilities of the National Milling Company are located on the eastern bank of the Demerara River, the main waterway of the Guyanese capital city Georgetown and primary offloading point for overseas imports received by the company. On 15 February 2018 NAMILCO and three other local companies alongside elements of the Guyanese Police and Emergency Services, the Guyanese Coast Guard, the Marine Police and the Guyana Energy Agency coordinated a live security exercise under the direction of the Guyana Maritime Administration Department, titled 'Exercise Thunderboom'. This exercise was a scenario simulating an unauthorised intrusion of the facilities and the emergency response capacities of the participants. These exercises are required on an annual basis to comply with the safety protocols of the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code (ISPS), the company has been registered as compliant with the ISPS since 2009.
On 26 September 2018, NAMILCO’s parent company the Seaboard Corporation celebrated its 100th anniversary of operation.
The company operates social media accounts on Youtube, Facebook, and Twitter. It has raised the issue of counterfeit packaging of non-NAMILCO flour products in Guyanese markets.
From Wikipedia’s article on National Milling Company of Guyana, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3