Lifespan seeks to expand market reach

Chief executive officer (CEO) of Lifespan Spring Water Company Limited, Nayana Williams, said that post COVID-19 will see the company taking aim at tapping into the overseas market, while restoring its local connections, which were disrupted.

Williams, who is also the managing director of Lifespan Spring Water located at Spring Gardens in Buff Bay, Portland, said that during the period of COVID-19 the company fell short on supply as a result of supply chain challenges, which resulted in a decline in sales and supply to the local market and also the export market, as it relates to distribution.

“Our objective this year is to get back to where we were locally, and also there is some export market that we had also fallen short. The distributors would have experienced some form of challenges and so we had a fall-back on our export and so we are going to be putting some focus on that for this year,” she said.

Williams pointed out that the company is not yet at the capacity that it was in 2019 and that they will need added resources including man power to get back to full production level, and that in doing so, the company will require additional workers in an environment that will also provide sustainable jobs to Portlanders.

“It was a challenge for us during COVID-19 and so we had to go to our consumers. We have encountered the challenges and we have been taking it in stages. We have been strengthening our merchandising and trying to take back our shelf space in this course. And I believe that 2023 will be the period wherein we will reclaim our rightful market space, not just locally, but also overseas,” she added.

The Spring Garden-based spring water company also celebrated its 18 anniversary on January 17 with a get-together party at its Portland-based facility, where several stakeholders, along with employees were fêted.

Meantime, Robert Scott, general manager at Lifespan, pointed out that the aim of the company is to continue its penetration into the local market and to do more in export, and that Lifespan has a network of distributors in the local market including T Geddes Grant and Massy Distribution, but was quick to add that they are not going to be satisfied until the basic objectives are achieved.

“We are not going to be satisfied until every corner shop, every gas station, every mom and pop has our product,” he said.

“We constantly refine our offering and we constantly hold our distributors accountable. We really had a snag during COVID-19, which impacted our availability of raw material and if you can’t sell as much as you plan to sell, it affects your cash flow. So your costs remain, but your revenue is interrupted. So it has been a challenging year for us. So our objective is to maximise our penetration and to get into the export market,” he added.

CONCERTED EFFORT

According to Scott it is going to be a challenge tapping into the overseas market, which he said will require some concerted effort, as it is costly and would require some level of subsidising. However, he was quick to point out that his personal commitment is to ensure that growth is achieved in the international market.

“When you look at a country like Barbados with a decent disposable incomes and they don’t have indigenous water of their own; you looking at Guyana where their growth is going to be unprecedented because of oil, plus there is a lot of people going into that market. And there is also some of the smaller markets that are available, which we will be looking at.

“Right now, we have more people on the production line and manpower is always needed, especially now more than ever. We have more than a hundred employees at both the Portland-based and Kingston-based facilities. I want to think that we are also the biggest employer of persons in Portland. As BMW (international car manufacturing company) says that they are not a car they are a machine, Lifespan is not water, we are a tonic. Consumers in these days have to look for value for money,” he said.

Scott said that there are plans to expand the product portfolio of the company, though he did not divulge any details.