Paints enjoy 75 per cent of local market share
The Continental Group of Companies is currently celebrating the fiftieth year of its association with Torginol Paints, a commemorative event that affords the business enterprise the opportunity to reflect on its rise from humble beginnings to becoming one of the country’s leading commercial houses.
The accomplishments of the Continental Group are inextricably linked to the pioneering efforts of its late founding Chairman, Swarn Kumar “S.K” Puri, an Indian national whose quest to succeed in the world of business led him to leave India during the 1950’s to seek his fortune as a travelling salesman. Fortune, in this instance, favoured the brave and the young Puri was reportedly successful in developing alliances with some UK Confirming Houses which enabled him to secure the exclusive rights to market their products in the Caribbean.
As the story goes “S.K” had originally set his mind on making Trinidad and Tobago his home, landing on the twin-island Republic with two suitcases – one containing his clothing and the other containing samples of items brought from England which he had hoped to sell in the Caribbean. Having agreed to make Trinidad the base of his operations Puri set out for British Guiana to assess the potential for doing business here. The best that can perhaps be said is that he “got stuck” in Guyana. It seems that he was so overwhelmed with the local hospitality that he decided that Guyana would be his new home.
Puri’s business association with Guyana began in 1956 as a commission agent under the name Continental Agencies in a small office above Rayman’s Drug Store at the corner of Regent Street and Avenue of the Republic. At the inception the company imported a variety of confectionery, biscuits, chocolates and Carmel wafers. Additionally, the company held its own in the local market for Tip Top cheese, Custard Cream biscuits and a variety of candies and chewing gum. Apart from its heavy emphasis on confectionery im-ports, Continental Agencies also imported and distributed the Fulda brand of car and truck tyres from West Germany. Subsequently, the company relocated to other premises at 216 South Street, Georgetown.
S.K. Puri seized the opportunity afforded by the development of the Ruim-veldt Industrial Estate during the early 1960s. Indeed, it was the opening up of the Ruimveldt Industrial site that afforded the enterprising Indian national the opportunity to begin his association with the Torgi-nol brand. The rights to manufacture and market Torginol Paints were acquir-ed from the German parent company for $4,500 and those rights included acquisition of paint formulae, manufacturing practices and equipment requirements.
Dindial Sawh, a former Continental employee re-calls that the Industrial Site Torginol Factory was commissioned by the then Minister of Trade Jocelyn Hubbard and that the company soon began importing pigments and oils from West Germany. Simultaneously, the company engaged Chemco Supply Company of Canada to source and supply raw materials as well as to assist in the setting up of Continental’s own Research and Development Laboratory.
Sawh recalls that production commenced with oil and emulsion paints and that subsequently the company moved into the production of putty, floor lacquers, roof and floor paints. Sawh says that careful attention to standards, details and competitive pricing saw the company secure a substantial share of the local market.
A commemorative booklet published on the occasion of Torginol’s 50th anniversary asserts that the acquisition of the Torginol brand enabled Continental “ to land contracts to supply all the required paints used on the M.V. Makouria, M.V. Malali and M.V. Torani, not to mention the Bank of Guyana, St. George’s Cathedral, the National Library, Georgetown City Hall buildings, Parliament Buildings and a number of other government buildings. As a matter of fact Torginol continued to win the tender for supply of all paints to the Government for a number of years.”
As the local Torginol enterprise grew Continental pursued investments in technical training, machinery and laboratory development. During the early 1990s, the company’s expansion having outgrown its available space, operations shifted to a larger building at Lot 9 Industrial Site, Ruimveldt. The move allowed the company to more than double its annual production and to allow for the restructuring of its operations to enable to separation of its laboratory facilities into Quality Control and Development Research Units as well as significant investment in new, state-of-the-art equipment.
Today, Torginol boasts around 75 per cent of the domestic market share, the company benefiting chiefly from the demand for its products resulting from a continually expanding housing drive. Indeed, the company boasts that seven out of ten buildings in Guyana are painted with Torginol paints, an accomplishment that has made Torginol Paints Inc. the jewel in the crown of the Continental Group of Companies.
