Using skills, he acquired in his early years while working at Precision – a furniture company in Guyana – 56-year-old Ronald McLean is constantly developing his trade as a joiner with the hope that one day, he will have his own furniture store.
McLean, a father of five – one son and four daughters – lives on the East La Penitence Dam. In an interview with Village Voice News, McLean said he moved to the dam approximately 40 years ago in search of a plot of land to not only build a house but to build his workshop.
“I had a 10×10 house back then,” he said. Today, the man, who has labored over the years for his children, lives in a flat concrete house, though still living on the dam – a squatting settlement. After working with Precision for approximately 12 years, McLean on February 15, 2000 launched his own business – ‘Ronald and Odessa Furniture Establishment.’
“I worked to provide all of them with an education,” McLean said alluding to his children. The proud father said during the early 2000s, one of his daughters needed additional finance to further her studies in the area of nursing, and upon realizing he hadn’t enough, he ventured to Trinidad and Tobago where he worked as a construction worker. McLean spent 10 years in Trinidad and Tobago acquiring money not only for his children but also for the purchasing of equipment.
Approximately six years ago, McLean returned to Guyana to continue his business. He specializes in making tables, chairs, cupboards, vanities and wardrobes among other furniture. The middle-aged man said he prefers using local wood as against imported wood. “Guyana has over 26 species of wood that could make furniture. We don’t have to buy pine,” he posited.
According to him, business has been good and it is hope, that one day he would be able to own his own furniture store. To contact Ronald call # 600-2470
