It was as recently as 2007 that husband and wife team Kavi and Rani Jundu founded Diamond Box Limited.
Kavi's father wanted him to join the family business, and to his surprise, he became fond of Majestic Corrugated Cases, a packaging business in Birmingham. When the business was sold, it was 'difficult to let go' and he founded Diamond Box with his wife, which makes cardboard packaging in West Bromwich. It buys sheets of cardboards, prints designs on them, cuts them to size and glues them together. Besides boxes for archives, moving houses and storing items, the company makes bespoke packaging for retailers such as Asos, Boohoo and M&S.
In the years since then it has grown to become one of the UKs leading independent suppliers of corrugated packaging.
As Kavi himself has pointed out, the insight behind the founding of Diamond Box arose from listening to the customers themselves, whom Kavi has described as ‘the best consultants you can ever have’. By taking on board the actual real-world requirements of their customers, Diamond Box were able to fill a gap which wasn’t being met elsewhere, and have since gone on to outgrow the existing market.
In the years since, Diamond Box Limited has been able to outride turbulent conditions in the UK economy to go from strength to strength as a business. With high quality and excellent customer service, the company has grown to become the largest independently owned cardboard box manufacturing business in the Midlands, and one of the largest single site sheet plants in the UK, with a turnover of more than £25m.
Kavi and Rani were introduced to each other by their fathers, they told in an interview with The Sunday Times. Rani's father Bill Panesar bought packaging for his food business from Paul's company. Rani, nnow 41, thinks it was 'love at first sight' for Kavi.
The couple sought a loan of £2.5mn to start Diamond Box in 2007. Their business plan projected future sales of £15m by the fifth year. But the bank manager laughed at Kavi and handed back the plan. Eventually they did secure a loan, but the trouble with the banks did not end there. When the credit crunch set in 2008, Diamond Box was viewed as a risky customer, as it was loss making in its early stages. Despite the bank's scepticism, they beat the £15m target just in three years, with their sheer ability to turn around orders with speed.
The Jundus is driven by surge in online shopping, with Debenhams, Selfridges and the White Company as their customers. They employ 150 people, though they feel recruiting experienced staff is an issue. Internet retailers make up about one-firth of their businesses and in March 2017, they posted sales of £23.5m and pre-tax profit of £260,000. Kavi believes to be a successful entrepreneur, you need to go with your gut, may whatever anyone says.
The Jundus live in Sutton Coldfield with three children.
