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Jan 06, 2019 Features / Columnists, News, Special Person
“I intend to be in this business for a long time to come; to not only make a living for myself, but so I can continue to give back to my country…I have learnt that a successful business doesn’t start with a big profit, you have to put in the groundwork, for which you cannot expect to be paid, but with time, and God’s help, you will begin to reap the fruits of your labour.”
By Sharmain Grainger
“The race is not for the swift, nor the battle to the strong…” is an extract from a biblical verse, which makes reference to the notion that while to society you may not be the best candidate for a particular task, there is always a possibility that you can be the best at whatever you set out to do.
This notion is particularly true for Ramesh Sunich, who to some may not have had the wherewithal back in the day to be one of the most successful businessmen around, but, over time, was able to prove to the world that he embodies such capabilities and then some.
In fact, life took him from being a businessman who followed in his father’s footsteps, to one who dared to take some chances and eventually was able to carve his own path, so much so that his business has become a household name.
If you are Guyanese, chances are you would have, at some point, heard the term ‘The Trophy Stall’. Just as its name suggests, ‘The Trophy Stall’, situated in the Bourda Market, is a business enterprise, which provides trophies to its customers.
About three decades ago, Sunich opted to delve into the local business arena. In the quest to sustain a thriving business, he was able to overcome many odds and stood the test of time to sustain a business that not only provides quality service to the nation and employment to several individuals, but also unparalleled support to the sports fraternity.
It is no surprise that simultaneous to his business success over the years, Sunich has been paying keen attention to sports, most notably cricket and football. It could be easily concluded that this was long embedded in his genes, since his father was not only a successful businessman in his time, but he too had a knack for sports – horse racing, to be precise.
BORN INTO A PASSION
During a recent interview, Sunich, who was born on Monday, April 5, 1954, and raised in Wortmanville, Georgetown, recalled his father Neville [deceased] being a jockey who rode many winners at the horse racing course at D’Urban Park, also in Berbice, and even in Trinidad back in the day. He remembers this of his father, but doesn’t have many memories of his mother, since she died in childbirth when he was just six years old. His mother, Maggie, had given birth to two other children, with Ramesh being the older of them.
Many of his childhood memories are about his paternal grandfather, Isaac Keshwar, who was well known for being a champion horse trainer. In fact, Sunich recalled that it was he who trained horses the likes of ‘King’s Bounty’ – a national champion horse. So, it was understandable that his [Sunich’s] father was an outstanding jockey.
He also has fond memories of his paternal grandmother, Radhie, who managed a kitchen at the D’Urban Park racecourse, catering to the nutritional needs of all the grooms, jockeys and trainers. In essence, horseracing was the lifeblood of the family.
Sunich attended St. Thomas More Primary School, which was located in the community where he grew up, and later, the privately-operated Guyana Oriental College. As he grew older, he not only had a passion for horseracing but just about any sport.
Although from a young age he’d started to embrace the idea of being a sports personality much like his father, Sunich recalled that his father wanted him to redirect his focus to academics.
“I was always interested in sports, but my father wanted me to be more an academic person,” recalled Sunich, who simply couldn’t shake the already ingrained passion for sports.
BUSINESS PATH
From a young age too, he had a keen business sense, since his father was a stallholder in the Bourda Market, fulfilling the grocery needs of customers.
“My dad had a small stall…the market back then was very different, because it didn’t have the variety of commodities that you can find today,’ Sunich reminisced. He recalled that his father later expanded his business by buying another stall in the market.
The other stall, to which he alluded, was the one in which he sat during an interview for this article. However, like his father, Sunich too expanded over the years, and now is the owner of as many as five stalls in the same market, providing a remarkable and very sought-after service.
“I grew up in the market and I’m still here,” Sunich reflected, as he expressed satisfaction in what he has been able to accomplish. He learnt early on about business, since, even as a boy, he was required to do his part to ensure the success of his father’s business.
“Before I went to school in the mornings, I used to walk and sell cubes, paper bags and plastic bags…I use to do that at lunch time and in the afternoons after school too,” Sunich recalled.
As the years went by, he developed business aspirations, which left no room for him to follow the path of academia. Moreover, as soon as he completed his secondary education, Sunich was working on a fulltime basis in the market with his father.
But there came a time in his life when he decided to take up an opportunity to expand his horizons by migrating to Canada in 1986. Indeed, he did, and would spend quite few years abroad, during which time he was able to truly appreciate that no other country could substitute for the beautiful land of his birth.
Although he was able to travel back and forth, Sunich confided that, “life was slow for me in Canada. It was not a place where you could go and reach people often; especially when it was winter time… you had to be home…the North American style of living was tough.”
A PATRIOTIC STANCE
However, by 1990, Sunich’s father decided to take advantage of a break to migrate to Canada too, which essentially created an opportunity for him [Sunich] to return home and pursue his own business venture.
It was no longer groceries that he sold. He said that he delved into a hair business, selling wigs and other hair products, which were in fact a demand from his customers, many of whom he’d known personally. “I used to live in Bent Street among many people who used to ask for these kinds of things,” Sunich recounted as he added, “I was the first person, myself along with a man by the name of Bharrat and a lady name Darcy in the Arcade, who used to bring in hair from overseas to sell. I was one of the biggest hair dealers, even before Daddy’s [a hair store],” a smiling Sunich said. As he pointed to the walls of his stall, Sunich added, “Hair used to be lined off there.”
While he did yield tremendous success from this business venture, it was short-lived, owing to the increased ability of more people to travel overseas to make such purchases for themselves and family members, thereby allowing for intense competition.
This made Sunich decide to take a step back, regroup, and then venture into yet another business.
“Not many people were doing this [hair business] at first…I remember me and the other two people who were doing this business, we would meet up in Manhattan at a hair zone where the Koreans used to come to sell hair. I was doing really well, until it became so competitive that I decided to try other things,” Sunich recalled.
At the time, Sunich, who is currently the Vice President of the Guyana Floodlights Softball Cricket Association, was embracing his passion for softball cricket, and was even then affiliated with the Softball Cricket Association.
He recounted that his next business venture was in fact inspired by his affiliation to softball cricket. “The organiser for cricket competitions, he used to have to buy a lot of trophies, and one day he asked me if I couldn’t bring in some trophies for him,” Sunich shared, as he reminisced how a simple gesture turned into a thriving business, which has since evolved by leaps and bounds.
But the success did come overnight as, according to Sunich, “at first the profit was very small, but it was a constant thing for me, because of my affiliations with friends in sports.”
“I remember the first time I brought in trophies, it was in a barrel, and it was like about ten, and the Association bought them all. After that I went and I bought trophies from a regular retail store for various sports like dominoes, football, cricket and so on,” he revealed.
While most of his trophies are sourced in North America, Sunich’s trophy procurement ways has seen him even travelling as far China in recent times.
He has over the years been able to cater to the trophy needs of many a sports competition, including the Kashif and Shanghai football tournaments, and the Police Force’s Annual Athletic Championships. So successful his trophy business became, that he was even able to sponsor tournaments and give back to society immensely, particularly in the area of sports, including horse racing, cricket, football and school sports in Georgetown, Essequibo and Berbice.
While he was long well known for being affiliated with horseracing, for which he has been sponsoring the champion trophy for many years, what many people do not know is that Sunich also served at one point as the unofficial coach of Beacon Football Club team.
“Around 1990, I was with them. I went a long time with them, because most of the players were from Bent Street where I lived, and so I used to support them. I used to go with them to their matches and when they lost, I was hurt, but when they won, I was a happy man,” he related.
EMBRACING A LEGACY
As a successful businessman, he has been able to expand his service to not only provide trophies for sports competitions, but has also included the provision of sporting gear, as well as trophies, plaques, mugs and other items for just about any occasion ranging from academia to birthdays. His business has become so demanding that he has employees designated to assembling trophies, some of which he readily avails for not only sports competitions but for top academic performers at the various levels. In fact, Sunich has a stall dedicated to displaying trophies and plaques for outstanding academic performers.
As he reflects on his journey which started some 20 years ago, Sunich noted that it is his customers who truly helped to make him the man he has become. He recalled that when he first signalled his intention to delve into the trophy business, he had envisaged it being called ‘The Trophy Centre’. However, since customers kept asking for the ‘The Trophy Stall’ instead, Sunich said that he too decided to adopt that as his business’ official name.
Aside from a presence in Bourda Market, ‘The Trophy Stall’ also has a branch at South Road and Bourda Street, Georgetown, which is managed by Sunich’s wife, Davie. Yet another branch is days away from being opened at Lot 3 ‘V’ Freeyard, Port Mourant, Corentyne, Berbice.
“I intend to be in this business for a long time to come; to not only make a living for myself, but so I can continue to give back to my country…I have learnt that a successful business doesn’t start with a big profit, you have to put in the groundwork, for which you cannot expect to be paid, but with time, and God’s help, you will begin to reap the fruits of your labour,” said Sunich.
For his success, which has allowed him to generously support the sports fraternity over the years, Sunich was during last year recognised by the Department of Sport.
Today, we at Kaieteur News take the opportunity to also recognise Ramesh Sunich, not only for his success in business, but also for his unyielding and selfless contributions over the years, by bestowing him with the title of our first ‘Special Person’ for the year 2019.
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