RUM has been produced in Guyana since the early seventeenth century, when many of the sugar estates of what was then British Guiana operated their own small distilleries.

Over three hundred years later, rum accounts for the bulk of the revenue of modern Guyana’s largest private company, Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL), which enjoys an international reputation for the quality of its products. “We have positioned our products at the premium end of the market,” says Chairman Yesu Persaud, who has led the company since 1975 and also heads the Private Sector Commission.

A leading supplier of bulk rums to North America and Europe, DDL has achieved increasing success in recent years with its branded products and is using its flagship El Dorado label to spearhead its drive toward international expansion. It has demonstrated a readiness to adapt by successfully shifting from being a principally commodity-based group to incorporating value-added products and services, diversifying into supermarkets, insurance, shipping, warehousing, fish and shrimp processing, and internet service provision.

While rum still accounts for the bulk of its revenues, since 1995 DDL has also been producing soft drinks under license from U.S. giant PepsiCo, including Pepsi, 7UP, and Slice, as well as its own Soca, Topco juices, and Diamond mineral water. Since last year, it has had the distinction of being the only company outside the U.S. to have been granted a franchise to produce PepsiCo’s internationally renowned Tropicana and Gatorade brands.