Label House Group Limited: Internationally Known...TT Owned

That’s all about to change though when LH receives the award for “Internationally Known...TT Owned Company of the Year” this Saturday (November 12) during the 2016 “Champions of Business” awards, hosted by the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce (Chamber) at Hyatt Regency, Portof- Spain.

Now in its 12th year, the award ceremony honours some of this country’s “finest business minds; both accomplished and emerging, (for) excellence in business performance and philanthropic practices,” the Chamber stated.

LH began 38 years ago, in 1978, as a Flexo-Graphic label converter for the beverage and brewery industry.

As stated on its website, in 1989 the company set up Digi Signs Limited to provide a full range of Quality Signs and related services.

It later set up Visual Solutions Limited to produce large format print, Package House Limited to sell equipment, supplies and services and Jemila Electronic Displays to sell and service indoor and outdoor LED signs.

In 2003, the Label House Group (LH) was formed by an amalgamation of all of its companies as a single company selling and servicing all of the Group’s products and services.

The following year, LH “pioneered the production of sleeves in the Caribbean market (while) in 2006 LH started a joint venture called Click Media TT Limited which is designed to promote brands.

LH now exports its products to more than 25 countries servicing beverage, brewery, tobacco, petroleum, personal care, household, liquor, and banking industries.

Business Day (BD) recently spoke with founder and CEO of LH, David Lewis (DL), to find out what he thinks is responsible for the company’s success.

The following is a transcript of that interview:

BD: What about LH do you think earned it this prestigious award?

DL: At first we were very surprised, especially when you do not set out to get an award but it’s bestowed on you. It makes us feel we earned it through the Group’s dedicated focus on our customers, both regionally and locally.

BD: What does winning this award mean to you?

DL: It proves that we are a multinational business and this is now verified. Our customers and suppliers and employees are overjoyed, yet we are humbled. We will be 40 years in business (in 2018), so this award proves our motto of “Yes We Can”.

BD: How does being named the “Internationally Known...TT Owned Company of the Year” winner impact your business?

DL: We consider ourselves to be truly multinational, after all, we service 20 multinational customer businesses in 16 countries in five languages. It’s the first time we earned this title, but now it’s more than verified. Our history has evolved interestingly to have come to this point, and this award will help to boost our customers’ confidence in Label House Group.

BD: Would you describe LH as a family-owned company? If yes, which of your family members helped to found it in 1978?

DL: I am the founder, with my father Mervyn Lewis being the first investor. Then after ten years many family members joined the Group. My two brothers are still with the company today. Richard is the executive chairman and Mark is the lead director in our signs and branding business. We now have my son Shane and nephew Ryan creating succession. Yes, it’s always been a family company.

BD: What’s been the key to LH’s success over the years, particularly as it expanded into services such as large format print, and indoor and outdoor LED signs?

DL: In the region, we built strong relationship with blue chip customers. Our focus on quality innovation, investing in cutting edge technology and using IT to better run our company, together providing excellent service have been the key to our success.

We get to experience how huge global companies operate and how regional companies compete for market share. The brand owners and entrepreneurs of the region have taught us a lot. Many of my mentors and friends have been my customers. Our suppliers are very global and they have been very instrumental in allowing us to exist in the very volatile market over the years.

Our expansion into the branding division for indoor and outdoor signage, as well as for digital marketing has allowed us to offer our customers a One Stop Shop and total solutions partner. No other regional company offers such a holistic combination of products and services.

BD: How challenging has it been doing business over the last two or three years, as the availability of foreign exchange (forex) has declined?

DL: It’s very distracting. And sometimes embarrassing to tell suppliers when you have not the currency to pay. But we are exporting for nearly 30 years so we do earn our currency. We are in the queue like everyone else. It does tell us that we cannot access capital for investments that easily. It tells us to watch every cent we spend and earn in foreign currency. It’s also a great opportunity to see how local customers turn to local suppliers to save on currency. This is good news for our growth.

BD: What other challenges has LH faced over the years and how have you overcome them?

DL: Entering new markets.
Markets not performing. Currency devaluation in the region. Natural disasters. Products not performing.
Competition from all over the world intensifying. The cost of logistics.
We overcame mostly because of market diversification and product development. Who would have thought bottled water would be so huge? We are now in flexible packaging. Our branding division is a fantastic investment and complements our packaging. Our machine division has created very important markets for us.

BD: How long after LH was established did you export your first product? What was it and to which company/client in which country was it shipped?

DL: It was ten years after we started. We began close to home.
First to Grenada, followed by Barbados. The labels were for condiments and sauces, then beer labels. Then we went all the way to Belize and virtually every island back down to Guyana and Suriname.
Amazing experience! Everywhere except Cuba.

: Whose vision was it to expand beyond TT’s borders and why did they think this was necessary?

DL: The decision to expand to new markets was a family decision.
The regional market, as we called it “The Pond” consisted of 25 million persons in the Caribbean basin consuming the same FMCG products which were produced in each island. There was a wave of new packaging development with PET and we followed it with 12 Coca Cola bottlers and their regional competitors. Plastic bottles with labels created a huge surge for our export markets.

BD: Do you agree with President of the Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturers Association (TTMA), Dr Rolph Balgobin, that manufacturers are the key to TT earning more forex from new sources and that doing so requires local manufacturers to produce export-ready products? If yes, why? If no, why not?

DL: Yes, I agree. He knows very well that we have been talking for 30 years about diversification away from oil and gas. We are big supporters of the TTMA vision and mission and believe that this group will be the next leading wave of business in the region. The need for labels and packaging is growing as the majority of our customers are entering regional markets and competing against products normally imported from the Far East and the North and South Americas. We need to show the regional governments the critical nature of manufacturing in every country to employ people and teach them skills and become more like Label House, a globally known company.

BD: What are your top five regional markets, top five international markets, top five sellers, top five TT clients (latter by category)?

DL: I guess you want to know all of our secrets. Look at it this way.
The demographic is from Belize in Central America to Suriname in the south and all countries in between except Cuba. The top five are based on demographics so you can work that out. In Trinidad you pick the biggest consumer brands and we are their suppliers. When you walk the supermarkets in the Caribbean you will be proud to see our packaging everywhere. That’s what make us internationally known.

BD: Anything you would like to add?

DL: It a very tough business. It’s not huge profits as many people think. It’s highly capital intensive. It requires cutting edge investments.
It’s dependent on many, many issues in the retail and manufacturing environments. We are following a massive group of customers. We look forward to the next 50 years.
Our group is now re branding itself and will continue to bring amazing products and services to the region in years to come.