CONTACT Magazine (Vol.18 No.3 – December 2018)

looking outwards
it will benefit from concessions available under the trade
agreement that country has with Trinidad and Tobago.
Flexibility
SM Jaleel has an excellent track record in responding to
changing market conditions and innovating to support
growth.
In 1984, for example, when the economic climate
demanded a container that would bring consumers both
savings and convenience, the company introduced the
revolutionary Jaliter bottle (Jaleel + litre), and became the
pioneer in large-format 2-litre soft-drink packaging. In
conjunction with Reynolds Metals Company, it was the first
company in the world to market fruit juices in two-piece
aluminium cans using nitrogen technology, thus eliminating
the need for artificial preservatives.
Chubby is another example of flexibility. It was born
when SM Jaleel observed that children were being given soft
drinks in large bottles which were cumbersome for them to
hold: so it filled that gap in the market by introducing the
flagship brand in its characteristic chubby bottle.
Chubby changed the market and created a global
transformation for SM Jaleel. Today, it is sold in over 60
countries and is manufactured on four continents around
the world; it has proven to have almost unrivalled global
reach in terms of penetrating new markets and countries.
Responsibility
SM Jaleel is notable for its response to environmental
challenges too. In Trinidad, it recycles all its cardboard, cans,
plastic bottles, shrink wrap, cardboard, pallets, metal drums,
and unused tetra packs. It is in the process of building a waste
water treatment plant. It is working to reduce the materials
in its packaging, and lowered the weight of its plastic water
bottles by half in two years.
It takes corporate social responsibility very seriously
too. One of its recent projects has been to partner with Vitas
House Hospice during Cancer Awareness Month (October), to
raise funds to promote cancer awareness through education,
early detection, and treatment. In another project, the
company was one of the first to respond to hurricaneravaged
Dominica last year, sending over 200 tonnes of
drinks, water, food, toiletries and groceries as part of the
relief effort.
Reaching out
One of SM Jaleel’s current objectives is truly remarkable: it
wants to leverage its export success so as to give a platform
to other Trinidad and Tobago manufacturers and exporters.
SMJ Director Dr Mikaeel Mohammed told a business
audience earlier this year that the company wanted to help
exporters get things done, and was already working with one
of Trinidad and Tobago’s best-known brands, using SM Jaleel’s
existing distribution and marketing network. “We want to
help each and every company here [to] reach destinations you
never dreamed of,” he declared. “Caribbean brands are just as
good [as international ones], if not better.”
It sounds like the same sort of innovative thinking
that has marked out SM Jaleel since its earliest days in
San Fernando. While it pursues its aggressive growth
campaign, takes care of its corporate social responsibility,
and continues to innovate, SM Jaleel has placed its brands –
and Trinidad and Tobago – in the hands of consumers across
the world.
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Trinidad
and Tobago Chamber
of Industry and Commerce
www.chamber.org.tt/contact-magazine