Global Packaging: Packaging for global delight

Global Packaging and Amit Singhal are inseparable. A market leader in perfumery packaging, they have a telling tale of a Phoenix rise

There may be many stories of rags to riches, but it is difficult to find one where a person has fought with utmost odds. Amit Kumar Singhal, Director and Owner of Global Packaging, is one such character who is a success story in himself. He built his company from a scratch by virtue of his determination and commitment, led by a dream to relive a life of entrepreneurship in the UAE. As a result, Global Packaging today is a market leader in perfumery and cosmetics packaging, and glass bottling industry.

Global Packaging is a sought-after name in glass packaging and incredible design innovation. With a manufacturing unit in decoration for perfumes empty glass bottles and accessories with fragrance division in Sharjah Free Zone, Global Packaging takes care of bottle collars that add great value to the product, and is articulate in crafting state-of-the-art pumps and caps, too, along with delicate packaging, foiling, colouring, lasering and printing services.

Hailing from Mumbai, Singhal's skills  got him a placement at NIIT with a Bachelors' in Science, but his destiny lay in the UAE, where he moved in 2002 on the insistence of his uncle, Dinesh Gupta, who had a business of his own. For Singhal, however, it wasn't a bed of roses. His officiating partner, the director, soon called it a day, and Singhal was left with a Hobson's choice of whether to continue in UAE or go back home.

Singhal made a decision that was epoch-making, and one that reflected his acumen and leadership. He convinced his uncle that he will run the company.  It was an episode in selflessness that he worked on a meagre salary of Rs8,000 (Dh600). By virtue of his hard work and dedication, he is now the owner and director. He was workaholic and did everything on his own - from documentation to customs clearance by riding a bicycle across the Saif Zone, and at the same time shuttled between Dubai and Sharjah in pursuit of new orders. He carried loaded bags of samples on his shoulders in sweltering heat; often went without food for day-long, and saved on commutation expenses to make a living for him.

A humble and self-made person, Singhal after a year or two of his industrious struggle had comfortably settled himself. He had won the hearts of the perfume manufacturing companies in the UAE and other countries. This was the time when he took his first sojourn back to India to not only reassure his uncle of hey-days, but also to marry his ex-NIIT colleague, Esha - his first-found love. Today, the couple are directors and owners, and there isn't any looking back.

From his first office of 250 square metres in SAIF Zone in 2008 to a 2,500 sqm highly-equipped manufacturing plant, Singhal has done wonders. The goal was to maximise the customer base and come up with quality products and services in the perfume packaging industry. Global Packaging also bagged the prestigious SAIF Excellence award in 2012. Today, it has a staff of 45 employees and a strong clientele base. Singhal is never lost on initiative - as even during the Covid-19 lockdown, he came up with the novel idea of importing and marketing plastic bottles for the sanitising business, as cosmetics and perfumes took a back seat.  

Amit and Esha have plans to not only expand the business, but also to ensure that the trust and confidence of the market lives with them.

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