Business View Caribbean - November 2016 35
land through a daily distribution logistic system,” says
Vaswani. “We have a fleet of trucks. And we actively
service the Caribbean – the Bahamas, Barbados, An-
tigua, Anguilla, Belize, St. Lucia, Dominica, and on and
off, a few other markets. We are continuously pene-
trating new markets on a monthly basis. We’re working
on about five countries, right now. Being toilet paper,
everyone consumes it.”
Quality’s raw materials are supplied through its inter-
national partners who ship sustainable forestry paper
products to Jamaica from Europe, North and South
America, and Asia. “We purchase parent rolls (Jamaica
has high energy costs, so they don’t have paper mill-
ing here) that go into our process, whereby they’re
unwound and rewound, embossed, perforated, cut,
wrapped, and then bundled, palletized, shipped, and
consumed,” Vaswani states.
When Quality first entered the business, it had over
40 competitors. “I would say 40 of them were finished
imports mainly from Trinidad, the Far East, and North
America,” Vaswani says. Over time, the local competi-
tion dwindled, then grew again when China began to
ramp up its manufacturing efforts and people started
to import more finished product from the Asian nation.
“There have been one or two challenges that we have
faced, but we continuously try to overcome them,” he
adds. “And today, we have about 21 or 22 competitors
active in our market. But we have about 38 percent of
it.”
Vaswani believes that while price is obviously a major
factor contributing to the company’s success, another
key is its excellent relationships with its local custom-
ers and the exceptional services it provides to them.
Regarding its exports, he maintains that Jamaica’s
location as a major shipping hub allows Quality to
more easily access and service nearby islands, since
so many shipping lines call Jamaica their home port.
Also, tissue paper is light, so freight costs are reason-
able enough to keep the company competitive.
AT A GLANCE
WHO:
Quality Incorporations VII Ltd.
WHAT:
Manufacturer of paper products
WHERE:
Kingston, Jamaica
WEBSITE
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