23/11/2015
History of Paper Converting Company Limited.
Sir Deo Dookun and his wife, Lady Dookun travelled to Neenah, United States of America to meet the president at the time of Kimberley Clark. Their dream was to manufacture under license Kimberley Clark products in Mauritius and other Indian Ocean countries.
In 1967 Paper Converting Company ltd was created. The company was to produce paper products under license of Kimberley Clark.
Market in 1967
At the time when Paper Converting Company Ltd was created, the market for personal hygiene paper products was non-existent in Mauritius as the only products available in the segment were imported and carried heavy duties and taxes. The use of this type of products was also not in the consumption patterns of Mauritians, which remained very traditional.
For the first 6 months,only two tons of paper were sold.
All the imported paper products was imported from Asia under quasi no regulation or quality control.
Paper Converting was a game changer in the Mauritian market. All of a sudden, there was a Mauritian product made according to internationally recognised standards. Paper Converting Company was producing better products than what those available on the market, at a lower price as they were locally produced and not subject to import taxes. Taking over the existing market was quite simple although the market was very small in comparison to the population. The challenge laid in increasing the market size.
