What was supposed to be a one-off family project at the turn of the 1990s metamorphosed into what is today Boss Furniture, a small group of companies engaged in the manufacture of beddings, sofas and polyurethane foam.

The story of Boss Furniture and its founders is one of resilience, as chairman and CEO Omar Azan chronicles the growth of the business despite challenges to become a supplier of a leading furniture outlet and an exporter throughout the Caribbean.

It all began in 1990 when the Azan family, who operated a garment factory on Orange Street in downtown Kingston, decided to reupholster a chair. From there, having witnessed the process and being in possession of one of the raw materials needed the family patriarch decided to venture into upholstery as an additional business.

“We had a garment factory on Orange Street. My dad used to manufacture children’s clothes many years ago — little dresses and tops and stuff — and sold them all over Jamaica and pretty much that’s where we did the business, pretty much got an idea of it and started,” Azan shared.

With years of experience operating businesses in Jamaica and Antigua, the senior Azan embarked on the upholstery business with $10,000 in capital, his wife and sons — Omar, Dominic and Emile — each having a 20 per cent stake. Setting up shop on Charles Street, the family began with nine employees.

Gradually, guided by market research, the family business transitioned into manufacturing sofas. Recognising the high rate of imported products by local furniture and appliance outlets at that time was the catalyst the family needed to venture into a new business activity.

“Jamaica still had a lot of imported products coming in, and one of the biggest retailers that they had here in Jamaica was the Courts Group, and they were…importing a lot of products. They were buying beds from the US markets, they were buying sofas, which they still do, but they’re now buying a lot more locally,” Azan explained.

“We did a market survey. We tried to see what products we could produce that could allow us to be able to produce what was being imported and then we went to Courts. And let me tell you, it took about a year and a half for Courts to even look at us,” he continued.

Relating the ordeal, Azan said he would go to the Courts outlet on Constant Spring Road each day to request a meeting with one of its purchasing agents, but his efforts yielded nothing. Though aware that he was only small local player, he persisted in requesting a meeting, convinced that his product was value for money.

“One day I got so frustrated and I said to him, ‘Listen, I have a living room set. I want you to try it. I will give you the living room set,” Azan recalled.

His bargain with the purchasing agent was that if the set sold within a week, Courts would begin engaging in business with Boss Furniture; otherwise, the company should consider a donation. Twenty minutes after going on display on the showroom floor, the Boss Furniture set was sold.

With the first sale serving as a sample product, Boss Furniture received an order from Courts Jamaica for six more living rooms.

“And that’s literally how Boss Furniture started!” Azan beamed.

But with Courts having a multiplicity of stores across Jamaica, Azan was convinced that it was not time for Boss Furniture to rest on its laurels but, rather, build capacity. Investing all their savings into the business, the Azan family also began to draw on overdraft facilities to fund the growth of the business.

Soon the company would venture into making bedding to supply to their major client, Courts Jamaica. Then, in the middle of the 1990s, interest rates on bank facilities started to become a yoke around businesses’ necks.

“I don’t know if you remember, interest rates were 68 per cent. Remember when interest rates went crazy? Remember?” Azan asked, inviting this reporter to recall that time before Jamaica’s financial sector crashed.

“So I remember literally after operating under those high interest rates regime, I remember one day my overdraft went to a penalty. You know, when you go over your limit, you pay a penalty was 120 per cent penalty. I think I was banking with Jamaica Citizens Bank and I was saying to myself, there’s no way I can operate and keep this business going paying 68 per cent interest. And I remember literally taking the factory keys that I had to go to the bank manager and say, ‘Listen, this is crazy. I can’t operate. I’m gonna hand you the keys. Take everything and go with it’.”

However, being a man of faith, Azan yielded to his intuition guiding him to fight through the challenges “and the craziness of Finsac and all you can think about when the economy was in shambles”.

Ultimately, Azan attributes the success of Boss Furniture to a “God thing, because if it wasn’t for the Lord, I don’t think it would be here today”. Counting his blessings, Azan is grateful for the faithfulness of his staff during those trying times. Most of all, he values the lesson from going to the Courts store each day.

“You know, it taught me a lesson of never give up in what you’re doing,” Azan reflected.

“And I say this so the wider public can know, if you have an idea don’t give up. Fight through everything you can and keep going.”

Thirty years on, Boss Furniture is now one of Courts Jamaica’s largest local suppliers. What’s more, in 1996 when the Azans began their foray into manufacturing bedding, the company secured a “tripartite agreement” with one of Courts’ suppliers out of the US, Frankel Bedding Brand, to produce under an exclusive licence in Jamaica.

While saving Unicomer some 20 per cent in import duties, according to Azan, the company began pursuing vertical integration in a bid to reduce its own importation costs and retain foreign exchange. Already experiencing organic growth, the company’s leadership felt the nest natural step was to venture in producing foam.

“So we invested literally every dollar we had and the dollars from the bank that we borrowed to invest in a US million-dollar factory that we invested in a few years ago to produce our own polyurethane, which now supplies ourself and helps us to be vertically integrated and to actually have another product that we can produce and sell,” Azan outlined, adding that Boss Furniture also supplies to small manufacturers.

Today with approximately 170 employees across its business lines, bedding accounts for 40 per cent of revenue, with sofas and foam contributing the remainder. The company also scales its employment during the Christmas period to meet increased demand.

Moreover, the company is now an exporter to the markets in the eastern Caribbean — Dominica, St Lucia, Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda. Though initially having to prove itself against more established First World and emerging market competitors, Boss Furniture has secured a foothold in this subregion.

“The markets are not huge but they say every mickle mek a muckle,” the CEO said, again counting his blessing.

In 2021 Boss Furniture opened a showroom for corporate clients including all-inclusive chain resorts to customise beddings and sofas to their liking. This has augured well for the company.

And just last year, the company secured a deal with US-based Spring Air to be one of two exclusive manufacturers and distributors of its brand. Azan believes this, too, will redound to increased export earning s for the company.

“One of the positive things I would say for our company…when you are a small island, like say living in Antigua and you have a furniture business for you to import one container of sofas or a container of mattresses alone from a bedding or a sofa manufacturer, [it’s] a lot to bring in and it lasts a very long time. So, buying from us, they’re able to consolidate mixed containers of sofa, beds, polyurethane foam pillows in one container, reducing their stocking levels,” Azan explained.

“So we’re hoping with the vertical integration that we have done and our ability to consolidate mixed containers, a lot more furniture companies operating in a region will be able to come to us to buy mixed containers to help reduce their stocking levels and to be able to buy a wide variety of products to be able to fill their retail stores,” he added.

The CEO also heaped praise on Jamaica Promotions Corporation, which, he said, was instrumental in the company securing export contracts being a part of its Export Max programme. He noted that the agency laid the groundwork for business to business contact before entering a country.

So where did the name “Boss” come from?

“That was a thing done by my brother when he was at university. He had this thesis thing that he had to do, and he just came up with a name,” Azan responded.

“…Every time you’re walking to downtown here, they always say, ‘Hey, boss man…How are you doing?’ [So] it stands out, it’s short…so we decided to have it and I just like the name,” he expounded.

At present, along with Azan as CEO, his brother Dominic is the director of production and his other brother, Emile, is a silent shareholder.