KC CANDY
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 Cou26 | SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MAGAZINE
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,