MMS expanding with distributorship of Colombian products
Published:Friday | September 3, 2021 | 12:09 AM
Janitorial company Manpower and Maintenance Services, MMS, has snagged sole distributorship of a range of Fuller Pinto household, personal care and pet care products as it expands its sales and distribution business.
Manpower CEO and founder Audrey Hinchcliffe, who is expanding her company through diversification and recently opened a sales and distribution outlet at the company’s Collins Green Avenue location in Kingston, says Colombian manufacturer Fuller Pinto wanted dedicated distributors in countries in the Caribbean region and offered Manpower an exclusive distribution contract. MMS had dealings with Fuller Pinto before.
Competitive price
“This is huge for Manpower, the little janitorial company. We now have a good range of products, plus at a price point that makes us ultra-competitive, especially since the shipping arrangements are better than, say, out of the Far East,” Hinchcliffe said.
Manpower’s Director of Sales and Distribution, Oral Richards, said Fuller Pinto, with which MMS previously had a limited relationship, sent its international business manager, Jose Ortiz, to sign on the dotted line and assist with the setting up of sales locations.
“Before now it was a conversation, but as we move to expansion of our sales and distribution business, it is something solid,” Richards said.
MMS will fully convert its Montego Bay warehouse and training centre to a retail store by October, while the 1,600-square-foot shop at the Drax Hall terminal in St Ann, owned by luxury bus operator Knutsford Express Services, should be ready soon after, at a cost of $30 million, Richards said. Additionally, branches are being planned for Mandeville, Portmore and Portland.
Under the arrangement with Fuller Pinto, MMS Sales will carry 250 of the 1,400 products the Colombian company manufactures.
The stores will offer both bulk and retail purchases, and carry household cleaning products, specialised equipment, personal and pet care products, as well as a line of cleaning chemicals that the MMS sales director said is awaiting regulatory approval.
For the time being, MMS will be shipping in one container of Fuller Pinto products per month, until other outlets are established, Richards said.