SWEET TASTE OF SUCCESS

Last year, K.C. Confectionery Limited also known as KC Candy celebrated 100 years of business. Sustainable Business Magazine spoke to its CEO, Satnarine Bachew, to find out more about how the company is celebrating such a lengthy and thriving history.

The K.C. Confectionery tale began 100 years ago in 1922, beneath the humble Preysal home of Abdul Razack Khan and his wife Zainab. Using a coal pot, a marble stone and scissors, the couple began making candies, with their children rendering assistance. In 1936, when Abdul passed on, his son Ibrahim Khan continued the enterprise. With his wife Korisha, he hand- wrapped the sweets and using his father’s bicycle, he traversed the miles to sell the homemade treats all across Trinidad, becoming known as “sweetie man’’. Success was slow but steady. In 1957 the first factory was opened in Cou- va. In 1966 the company began exporting to neighbouring countries including Barbados, Jamaica and Guyana.

However, as KC Candy CEO Satnarine Bachew explains, the best was yet to come:

“In the 1980s and 1990s, building on the successes in the CARICOM region, the business decided to expand to a truly international market including the US, Dominican Republic, Panama, and the UK. It was the era of globalisation and trade liberalisation, and that enabled KC Candy to take big new strides into the world. To do this, we expanded the production line and started developing new products. Today we currently export to 22 countries and have tailored our products to suit each local market.”

STAKEHOLDERS, NOT SHAREHOLDERS

Maintaining a business for 100 years is no easy feat. As Mr. Bachew explains, it demands care across all sectors of the company in equal measure:

“KC Candy has designed its business around its stakeholders and not only its shareholders. That includes our suppliers, customers, and employees. A lot of emphasis has been put in these areas.

“Employees, for example, are mainly from our catchment area in Couva. A lot of our employees will join at a very early age and stay with us throughout their careers. A lot of our employees have 20 to 40 years service. Such a low turnover rate shows the high level of loyalty from our employees. That’s because when they have issues, they can come to management and some level of support will be provided, whether it is financial or otherwise. The company is always there. The company’s relations with its employees is very strong and resilient.

“In terms of our customers, the same thing applies. Most of our customer arrangements are not even written contracts – they’re word of mouth. A lot of them are relationships that we’ve had for 40 or more years. We can call up customers or they can call us up when issues arise, and we resolve them very quickly. There are no legal battles, it is not that kind of business. The same thing goes for our suppliers. We have 30-year relationships with most of our suppliers for different raw materials and packaging materials.

“The other important element to our business is, of course, the consumer. Without