Business View Caribbean | May 2016

66 May 2016 - Business View Caribbean Business View Caribbean - May 2016 67 Corrpak Jamaica Limited Supplying packaging and more It’s an odd business whose founders launch it with anything but making money in mind. Yet, according to Howard Mitchell, the Executive Chairman of Corrpak Jamaica Ltd., that’s exactly how this particular compa- ny began. “We didn’t start with the profit motive being the primary thing,” says Mitchell who created Corrpak in 2006 with his business partner, G. Raymond Chang, a well-known Canadian-Jamaican businessman and philanthropist. “The master plan was to provide import substitution for local manufacturing, to provide em- ployment, and to train Jamaicans into skilled workers.” Mitchell says that he and Chang were responding to a request from the then President of the Jamaica Manu- facturing Association, Doreen Frankson. “She knew that we had done some investments in Jamaica and that we were looking for things that gave value-added to the Jamaican economy,” he says. “She came to us and said, ‘You need to do something about pack- aging because we’re importing most of it. There are no manufacturing companies doing corrugated card- board packaging on any great scale in Jamaica. And as a result, our manufacturing is suffering because we’re dependent on the whims and fancies of overseas sup- pliers.’ When you’re manufacturing and you have to import everything you’re at the mercy of the market,” Mitchell adds. “So we started a company.” Today, Corrpak’s management systems are ISO certi- fied and it is a full-service corrugated box manufac- turing company. It designs, manufactures, and sells regular slotted cartons, die cuts, partitions, trays, and pads, mainly to large food and drink distributors. “Our big lines,” says Mitchell, “are gallon boxes, trays, and pads, and we also have quite a substantial area with AT A GLANCE WHO: Corrpak Jamaica Limited WHAT: A full-service corrugated box manufactur- ing company WHERE: Kingston, Jamaica WEBSITE : www.corrpakjm.com