The story of the rise to prominence of the Eccles-based company Comfort Sleep, is a story of stamina and staying power in the face of business-related challenges as well as tragedy, and Dennis Charran, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer, has been at the centre of events for all of more than two decades.
Charran embarked on his entrepreneurial adventure during the 1980’s, travelling to the various Caribbean islands under the trading name D. Charran Trading and purchasing items for re-sale in Guyana. For a while, thereafter, he worked for a Guyana-based Trinidad and Tobago company located on the Ruimveldt Industrial Site, selling mattresses. The sojourn lasted nine years and when the company finally closed its operations, he assumed the management and shifted its operations to Eccles on the East Bank of Demerara, having purchased a plot of land from the Government of Guyana.
Even then, however, there were more challenges to come. In 2013, disaster struck when the entire plant was destroyed by fire. It took six months of herculean effort for Charran to resurface in business.
Good times were to come, however. If Comfort Sleep could have even nearly as good a year in 2019 as it had last year, Charran would consider that to be reason for celebration.
What is now a thriving multi-million dollar enterprise is the business of manufacturing mattresses, pillows and foam products.
On Tuesday, Charran told Stabroek Business that one of the high points of the company’s ongoing thrust to market itself both at home and abroad was its participation in last September’s Guyana Trade and Investment Exhibition (GUYTIE) at the Marriott Hotel. There, he secured what he says were serious enquiries regarding his company’s products and now he is currently in discussions with Chamber of Commerce officials in Cuba regarding the possibility of securing a market there. Success on the Cuban market, he believes, would be a landmark breakthrough for the local manufacturing sector.
But that is not all. At the GUYTIE event, Charran engaged the representatives of the Korean Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) with a view to negotiating the importation of chemicals associated with the manufacture of foam. GUYTIE, meanwhile, was also used as the launching pad for the company’s Comfort Classic Deluxe Mattress, which, Charran says, was well received by those who witnessed the launch. This year he wants to introduce more comfort-related products, not least, a product described as memory foam on the market, and so is seeking appropriate local events at which to do so.
The impressive range of products (mattresses) which the company has placed on the market include Comfort Custom Euro Top, Comfort Custom Luxury, Comfort Dreamer Back Support, Super Comfort Quilted Mattress, Comfort and Night Magic. The company also offers regular foam mattresses, Pink Foam Sheets and Poly fill pillows.
Charran believes that up until now, Comfort Sleep’s signal success was his ‘sellout’ experience during the Christmas 2018 season. What pleases him most is what he believes was the wholehearted response of Guyanese consumers to locally manufactured products, a sign he believes can only augur well for Guyana. However, mindful as he is of the pressures of consumer expectations, ensuring the maintenance of high quality standards is, he says, Comfort Sleep’s highest priority.
High demand, Charran says, makes an efficient production process necessary. When pressed by demand considerations, the factory has the capacity to produce one thousand mattresses per day. Here in Guyana, Comfort Sleep products can be found across the country in major outlets, not least, the Giftland Mall and Courts and Singers, two of Guyana’s household products ‘giants.’ This, Charran believes, is a reflection of the company’s success in realizing an impressive level of product recognition.
Having secured an estimated 80% of the local market, Charran unashamedly ‘talks up’
his products, his mission being not only to make even further market inroads at home but also to secure the enhanced attention of the regional market. Comfort Sleep’s mattresses, he says, are not only manufactured from “the highest quality foam” but the springs that fill his products possess a “coil count” of four hundred and sixteen, which he says ensure the firmness of the company’s mattresses.
Since reduced product costs could result in enhanced product quality, Charran says that one of his preoccupations is with sourcing chemicals associated with the company’s production processes from non-traditional sources. Asia is now his current focus.
Comfort Sleep’s progress, however, has not been without challenges. On Tuesday he disclosed that he is in the process of engaging government in an effort to seek relief from what he says has been a 20% hike in taxes on chemical imports for the company’s manufacturing process. He believes that the contribution which the company makes to the local manufacturing sector and the high market demand for its products warrants duty-free consideration.
There are other routine operational challenges which Comfort Sleep has to face. One of those, Charran says, is sometimes the need to source some chemicals and the impact on the production process that is sometimes created by the hiatus between securing and importing stock. It is not unusual, he says, for critical items to take almost two months to arrive in Guyana and a further lengthy period to be released to the company. Efforts to avoid the company running low on stock mean that more significant sums of money must be invested on purchasing larger quantities of critical materials.
The company’s immediate focus on securing a further foothold on the regional market is centred around efforts to re-enter the St. Lucia market. Following the closure of the operations of their previous business associate in that country last year, Comfort Sleep is currently seeking another partner to retail its products on the island. The company is also targeting other potential CARICOM markets in Antigua and Jamaica. Charran says that in May this year, Comfort Sleep will be securing the support of the Guyana Office for Investment (GO-Invest) to participate in a trade show in Jamaica.
If CARICOM has the potential to be a breakthrough market for Comfort Sleep, Charran says that it is not without its challenges. Shipping, he says, is one of the major challenges. Limited sea transport links with the island states of the Community means that the movement of goods within the region can be slow and costly. Some destinations in the region can take up to four weeks to reach by boat, the vessel often sailing to Miami before reaching ports in the Caribbean. High shipping costs and travel time can impact negatively on Comfort Sleep’s products on regional markets.
Comfort Sleep’s pursuit of a high quality of customer service extends into travel by members of staff to the various regions across the country to respond to buyers’ concerns.
Thrice yearly, there is a consumer rush to the Eccles factory site, where the company’s popular Tent Sales offer mattresses at factory prices.
