Ludic Balloon Events, only established in February this year, is becoming the go-to business for special occasions with its signature, impeccable balloon décor.
Despite the company’s recent start up, its owner, Jesús Lamazon, has almost a decade of experience in event decor.
Lamazon was employed at Zoon as Sales and Marketing Manager and every year during the Black Friday sale, he created the decor. Scotia Bank has contracted Lamazon every year for the past nine years to do the decor at Christmas time at all of its locations.
Now, Ludic Balloon Events caters for birthdays, baby showers, anniversaries, bridal showers and business events. It provides themed event decorations, floating centrepieces, and balloon arches and columns. Among its most prominent clients are Zoon Online Shopping, Scotia Bank and First Lady Arya Ali, who commissioned the company to decorate for an Easter weekend occasion on the lawns of State House.
Lamazon runs the business in partnership with Daniela Burges-Pinto, who he has employed full time as Public Relations Officer.
Lamazon, who was born in Venezuela, moved with his family to Guyana when he was nine years old in 1997. The entrepreneur confided that all they were able to bring with them were their suitcases of clothing which they slept on at night, as they had no beds, packing them back into the suitcases early every morning. He was determined to leave his poverty stricken life behind and for him, having an education was the key. “For me education was everything and I felt that if I got smart, I’ll get out of poverty…,” said Lamazon.
He returned to Venezuela where he attended school, but later came back to Guyana and was enrolled at Christ Church Secondary School where, he wrote CSEC exams. Lamazon went on to attend the Accountancy Training Centre, after which he enrolled at the University of Guyana but subsequently dropped out to better focus on his career. Over the last ten years, he has worked in sales and marketing and social media management.
Lamazon also spent some time working in Barbados, and Trinidad before returning to Guyana in 2013 and has remained here since then.
According to the entrepreneur, while he worked in sales and marketing, he also did balloon decor for companies as his side job. Owing to the pandemic last year, he lost his job and started contemplating what he could do to make money. After watching numerous YouTube tutorials on customized balloon marquees, in November last year he began making his own and posting the results on his Facebook page. In February, he started receiving orders for customized balloon marquees and that same month he landed a job that paid him six figures. However, after the first week on the job, Lamazon decided to leave. That very week, he said, he was unable to fulfil $120,000 in orders and realized that Ludic would pay much more than the job and he could not afford to lose more business. He apologized to the company for having to leave and the day he resigned from his job, he picked up a business registration. He has never regretted his decisión to do this.
Though the business was established in February, the bulk of his orders started coming in from Mother’s Day. Lamazon said he went from weekly orders to having no less than three every weekday and six to eight on Saturdays and Sundays.
Ludic Balloon Events has catered for small gatherings at restaurants including Bistro Café, Hard Rock Café, RS53 Resto Bar and Lounge, and Kosmos, or at the homes of clients. All of the balloons it uses are of the highest quality and are imported from the US and/or China. “We’re still very limited as it relates to getting these colours in Guyana. You’ll find red, blue, pink, black and so forth but you’ll never find certain colours,” Lamazon said.
Customers can choose any colours they wish and Lamazon would import them. Clients, he pointed out, do not always have to wait for him to import from overseas as he has a variety of decor in stock in many colours. He also has special equipment for putting calligraphy designs on balloons. Most of the investment into Ludic was from Lamazon’s savings. He also had the help of two friends, both of whom he has been able to repay.
He noted that while he can say he makes a profit now, he reinvests it into the business.
Between November and February Ludic Balloon Events had the balloons up for resale to decor event companies and was trying to market the balloons to supermarkets when the business kicked off in February. He is no longer trying to market to supermarkets but does have the balloons available at retail prices for decor event companies and customers.
When asked whether he has more customers purchasing the balloons than requesting his customized balloon marquees service, Lamazon explained that often when customers who have ordered balloons, turn up for pickup and see him working on one of his customized balloon marquees, they tell him they could never do what he does and sometimes end up requiring Ludic Balloon Events decor service.
Owing to the demand, customers are required to place orders for decor services at least four days in advance for weekdays and at least seven days upfront for weekends.
Ludic Balloon Events provides both pickup and delivery. The decorations are created at the office and while some customers agree to pick up theirs, Lamazon opts to deliver for them sometimes especially when he considers the job a bit tricky as the balloons can pop. For larger decors like the one he did at State House, he creates at the event.
Lamazon shared that one thing he has become better at in his business and as a person is being efficient, adding that he is a much better coordinator now.
“I invest into getting different colours of balloons, invest in software apps that créate the designs better, purchasing helium, and any little thing that has a new edge in decor. All of this adds to what we do as a company because I really believe that once you keep yourself diverse as a company in Guyana, you keep [attracting] new customers so we always try to be on top of our [game] and try to be completely different,” he said.
Lamazon envisions Ludic Balloon Events becoming one of the leading businesses in Guyana in its field. He hopes to have ten to 15 employees in the next five years and for the business to be sustainable so that he is not the only person creating the balloon marquees. With work increasing, Lamazon plans to hire two more employees next month.
The two new employees will be individuals who participated in two of Ludic’s recent workshops. Lamazon shared that he has held balloon decor workshops at the Ptolemy Reid Rehabilitation Centre and the Open Doors Centre. “We’re trying to be a very inclusive company so the first set of people that we are reaching out to are the high functioning people with disabilities. The two workshops we did saw 40 persons with disabilities participating, and out of that amount, we’re trying to find the best of the best that we can bring on to work with us on a part-time basis…,” he said.
Ludic Balloon Events can be found on Facebook and Instagram under its business name. The company is located at Marudi Street, Lamaha Gardens, Georgetown. Prices for customized balloon marquees start at $3,500. For orders, the company can be reached at 688-1021.
