PUBLISHED ARTICLE FROM JAMAICA GLEANER

What do you do when you’re facing a crisis? You adapt, and find opportunity! That’s what Paramount Jamaica, a chemical solutions manufacturer and distributor, did in 2020 to meet the demands of the COVID-19 pandemic by expanding their product line to include sanitation products.

The company has a history spanning 30 years in which it began operations as a distributor, but has recently added manufacturing to its operations. Supported by this development, the company changed direction to adapt to the crisis and remain profitable.

“Paramount has been creating several products for the nation and for export,” explained Vaughn Phang, the company’s chief operating officer. “Our business takes us into many sectors, including industrial chemicals, food, utilities, mining, construction, and most recently lubricants. As expected, all of these sectors have been impacted by the pandemic – it would only be a short time before these challenges trickled down to our company.”

The company decided that they had to create a plan to keep their business in operations. Phang said, “We had to find ways to still support the market and remain viable – and manufacturing of sanitation products was one of them. We activated some resources in our toolbox to meet the demand for these items and to provide solutions for the nation.”

Paramount therefore developed their own brand of hand sanitiser and hard-surface cleaner, and partnered with organisations such as Wray & Nephew to get sanitation products to their clients. They also joined the Bar Recovery Initiative, partnering with Red Stripe Jamaica, Pepsi Jamaica, Celebration Brands, and the Desnoes & Geddes Foundation to help community bars recover from the economic damage of COVID-19.