“Sicon Packs,” a journey of resilience between Mumbai and Nigeria!

Yudhviram Solanki

At the Labelexpo Europe, Brussels in 2007, Tarsus UK, the owners of labelexpo group, announced the acquisition of India Label Show, founded by the husband wife duo Anil and Neetu Arora. It was time to celebrate for Anil, who with industry friends that included the author, industry veteran Amit Sheth and a few others were doing the rounds in the bars and eateries at Grand Place. Grand place in Brussels had a nostalgic connection for the label industry at large, where the printers and suppliers partied each evening after the day-end at the show. The show has since moved to Barcelona in Spain in 2025. That evening, Amit Sheth had brought along a customer, a tall quite man who did not talk much but was extremely attentive, he had business in Nigeria and had finalized his first purchase of a label press from Amit’s company Intergraphics, at the show. He had a unique name, Yudhviram Solanki, which in real terms means ceasefire.

According to Yudhviram, “People are often fascinated by my name which also carries a small story. I was born on 20th September 1965, during the height of the Indo-Pak war. My grandfather was in the Indian army during the war and stationed in Jodhpur. My arrival, I have been told, brought a moment of calm amidst chaos, and just three days later, on 23rd September, a ceasefire was declared by the prime minister of India Lal Bahadur Shastri. That is how I came to be named Yudhviram by my grandmother, it means the end of war.” Yudhviram grew up in a humble family living in the Mafatlal Colony in Thane District of Mumbai. To support a family of six, his father Harisinghji Solanki took on part-time business besides his regular job. His mother Kanchan Solanki was the binding force and a pillar of strength for the family.

As a young boy, Yudhviram Solanki would often watch his aunt sell tiny tidbits to students from her small stall near their school. The way she spoke to customers, the little tactics she used, the energy she carried with each transaction, resulted in profound wish to be a businessman. The joy of creating value, one sale at a time, awestruck him at a very young age. As founder director of Sicon Packs Pvt. Ltd., his journey has been one of resilience, balance, and meaningful relationships built with ambition to grow.

His initial schooling was from St. John, The Baptist High School Mumbai followed by a B.Sc. Degree from BNB College Thane in 1987. Prior to taking up a steady career in the multinational Phillips in 1989, he took up various odd jobs to supplement the family income. The years spent at Phillips were his training ground and learning the fundamentals of achieving excellence in sales, that eventually supported his entrepreneurial journey later. Though Solanki made many friends, one of his college friends Shridhar Prabhu, owner of Dolly packaging, manufacturing corrugated cartons, encouraged him to initiate his maiden venture as an entrepreneur of manufacturing carbon paper in 1995 and supplying to industry leaders like Kores and Camlin, later adding stationery to his range of offerings. They even developed their own brand of carbon Paper “Swan” and “Sailing Boat” to sell in Middle East, European and West African markets. Manufacturing was from the two factories they set up, one measuring 10,000 square feet at Navi Mumbai and the other 20,000 square feet at Mumbai. Despite carbon paper being a product that was losing market share fast, Solanki successfully ran it for the next 15 years, gaining experience as an entrepreneur. The receding demand for carbon papers made the decision to exit carbon paper manufacturing in 2013. During this time another friend Milind Deshmukh, who was his colleague in Phillips and had moved to Nigeria in 1998, mentored him to start exports to Nigeria. Solanki travelled to Nigeria in 2001 and as life would have it, he suffered a malarial attack on arrival there. He almost decided not to come back to that country, but once he recovered and started working, he was thrilled to find success in shape of an order for two container loads of carbon paper. This was his beginning of business journey in that country. This taught him the nuances of doing business in the West African markets. It was a country with personal safety concerns and lacking infrastructure like power. He started to import stationery from Mumbai and sell there and during the course he also started to trade in labels imported from Mumbai.

Nigeria factory

Soon he became aware of an increasing demand for labels in the country which was largely being met by imports. He started to sell labels on “stock and sell” basis to provide ease of purchase for customers by buying and paying in local currency instead of imports and dollar remittances. The success this brought, Solanki took the next landmark step in his entrepreneurial journey from trading to manufacturing by establishing Perfect Packaging Ltd.(PPL), one of the first roll form label manufacturing company in Nigeria. Earlier people were producing labels in sheet form, and the quality was not good. Their first order came from Mr. Shekhar Ghate, former Director of Holborn and now Managing Director of Apple and Pears Nigeria. Nigeria has been a difficult market. Over the last decade, the local currency Naira’s drastic devaluation has posed a constant challenge. In 2015, 1 USD was equal to 150 Nairas, and today it stands at nearly 1,600 Nairas. This volatility made expansion and reinvestment incredibly difficult. Additionally, being an import-dependent economy, Nigeria’s planning and payment cycles are complex and unpredictable. Yet, despite these hurdles, the resilience and warmth of the Nigerian people kept the PPL team motivated. The first major breakthrough came when PPL successfully cleared the SMETA 6-Pillar Audit, an achievement that opened doors to multiple international clients. Within just two months, they onboarded one of Nigeria’s largest alcobev brands as a premium customer, setting the tone for many successes that followed.

Sicon Packs Mumbai

Following the success in Nigeria, the yearning for replicating it back home, Solanki with advice from industry leader Mahendra Shah of Renault Paper Products Pvt. Ltd. returned to India and with Gautam Shah of Atlanta Forms as a partner, he established his Indian venture Sicon Packs Pvt. Ltd. He reminisces it as a memorable start, the first order for a promotional label came from pharma giant Cipla, though what followed in operations in India had other challenges. These included rising input costs, complex labour laws, intense competition, taxes, and sustainability norms, all of which demand careful navigation.

Manjiri Solanki

Early in his career when he started carbon paper business, he married Manjiri in 1995 who has been a support and part of his professional journey. Since the carbon paper business entailed vigorous travel, Manjiri held the fort for him, managing the factories while he travelled for over three weeks every month from 2001 onwards, providing much-needed support. 

Solanki family

They are blessed with two children. Their son Devendra is a qualified computer engineer. Devendra started his career at “Teach for India” where he met Shivani and the relationship flourished leading them getting married, Devendra now leads Sicon Packs into diversification and expansion. Their daughter, Kashish Solanki, holds a Master’s in Analytics and Management from the London Business School and currently works with Apple in Mumbai. Her husband Pratik Dubal is a Research Engineer at Meta.

With Amit Sheth of Intergraphics

Sicon Pack’s operations in Nigeria and India have grown. In Nigeria, they operate out of a 40,000 sq. ft. facility with 5 flexo machines employing over 100 people. The Indian plant is spread over 30,000 sq. ft. more than 40 employees and 2 letter press and 3 flexo label presses. Both units specialize in the manufacturing and conversion of self-adhesive labels. The India plant is ISO 9001 & 14001 certified and recently achieved the GMI certification from SGS, enabling them to serve premium brands with strict color and shade compliance standards. Solanki says, “I am grateful to Amit Seth of Intergraphic, who has been a supporter since 2007. All label presses and finishing equipment have been sourced through him. Their quality has been rewarded with LMAI label awards consistently since 2010.

Expansion remaining a key focus they are actively exploring opportunities in Ghana, a neighboring market to Nigeria, and even evaluating possibilities in the United States with an innovative technology base, though this is still at an early stage. They are also contemplating expanding their range of products to include shrink sleeves, IML (In-Mold Labels), Wet glue labels, Mono cartons and eventually, digital label printing at both locations. Committed to sustainability, they aim for at least 20% of total production to use eco-friendly, sustainable label stock. They look at a lot of diversifications in the next 5 years that may also include B2C products.

Outside of work, Solanki’s biggest dream is to go on a 145-day world cruise. He has always loved cruise travel, having been on three cruises already. The last cruise through Alaska in 2018, has been the longest yet. A world cruise looks like the next big adventure and an exciting challenge!

Written by Harveer Sahni, Chairman Weldon Celloplast Limited, New Delhi December 2025

Leading Brands applaud Future of Pack!

 

A unique event, brainstorming session with many packaging development heads and senior managers of leading FMCG brands, "FUTURE OF PACK" was curated by Pawandeep Sahni Managing director of Omet India Pvt. Ltd., wholly owned subsidiary of Omet Srl. Italy,  and supported by the author Harveer Sahni. The event was held during Flexo Summit Asia 2025  Jaipur on the 27^th of November 2025 to dwell on Innovation, decoration, security and sustainability in packaging. The event was conceptualized and executed by Unam Vitam, a knowledge delivery platform also led by Pawandeep Sahni. The session was hugely applauded by all the brands that participated and dwelled on the future of pack. The feedback and comments of most of the packaging experts are reproduced here. The content has been hugely appreciated with a wish to take this program around the nation. Leading solution providers; Kris Flexipack, Moldtek Packaging, Parksons Packaging, San Printech, Zircon and OMET supported the event and took home challenges posed to later offer solutions through Unam Vitam to take the future of Pack forward.

 Explaining the motive and efforts toward the Future of Pack, Pawandeep Sahni, expressed as hereunder;

 “Almost two years ago, I said something that felt impossible. I said that the next generation of packaging must be Sustainable, Beautiful, Affordable, and Secure, without compromising any of these pillars. Back then, many people told me this was wishful thinking. Some called it impractical. Others said, “Pawan, in packaging, you can’t have everything, something will always give.”

“But I held onto one belief":

If India could design Mangalyaan with limited resources and show the world what engineering genius looks like… then why can’t we create the Future of Packaging from India too?  Over the last two years, this idea has grown. It has sparked conversations. It has challenged assumptions. And it has brought together some of the most curious and courageous minds in our industry.

With Future of Pack during Flexo Summit Asia 2025  we put this belief to the test. Inside a closed-door room at Flexo Summit Asia 2025, over 25+ brand owners and leaders came together to ask one bold question: Is Sustainable, Beautiful, Affordable & Secured packaging a myth we’ve been chasing, or a reality we can create together?

We were not there to present solutions. We were there to explore possibilities.

To challenge the status quo. To imagine what the next decade of packaging could look like if the best minds worked together not in silos, but in collaboration.

The brainstorming took place on 27th November 2025 and started to take shape.

The brands speak:

Preeti Bambal Category Lead - R & D Packaging Mondelez: 

“Women Power in Packaging”

Feeling proud and inspired to be surrounded by these incredible women who are redefining what leadership, innovation, and impact look like in the packaging industry.

Shikha Tayal Geetal Mahajan Choudhari, Ph.D. (Tech.) Priyanka Singh Himanshi Mahajan Swati Gupta

From driving breakthrough ideas to shaping sustainable solutions and representing our organizations with confidence and grace—this powerhouse group reflects the strength, talent, and rising influence of women in a packaging world.

 Events like these remind me how far we’ve come and how much further we can go when women uplift women. Here’s to collaboration, representation, and the unstoppable force of women in packaging.

Many thanks to Harveer Sahni ji Pawandeep Sahni for hosting amazing and first of its kind in globe event Future of Pack at Flexo Summit Asia.

From driving breakthrough ideas to shaping sustainable solutions and representing our organizations with confidence and grace—this powerhouse group reflects the strength, talent, and rising influence of women in a packaging world. Events like these remind me how far we have come and how much further we can go when women uplift women. Here is to collaboration, representation, and the unstoppable force of women in packaging.

Geetal Mahajan Choudhari, Ph.D. Global Sustainability & Packaging Lead:

Sometimes it is good to be on the other side of the Dias, because it is never too late to upgrade your knowledge and learn! I recently had the opportunity to attend Flexo Summit Asia 2025, an event which brought together a diverse mix of printers, packaging partners, and brand owners, creating a unique platform for the entire value chain to connect with a key focus on Flexo Printing. The entire sessions were knowledge of wealth on Flexo Printing. Kudos to the entire team of Flexo Summit Asia for setting up a great show.

One of the highlights for me was the "FutureOfPack" session, which offered fresh perspectives on the possibilities ahead and showed how packaging can continue to evolve to meet changing demands. Most engaging was the brainstorming session where the Brand Owners encouraged honest dialogues about the common challenges we face. From the various breakout groups, the themes that stood out were common, such as sustainability, affordability, consumer experience delivering playful sensorial, which literally shows that we should look at our challenges from an Eagle's eye view to find solutions.

I have always believed in the Power of Collaboration and that is what this session delivered. The aim was not to find and bring in a solution immediately but to understand the challenge spectrum across the common themes and understand the steps forward.

Kudos to you Pawan Sahni, such a well-curated and meaningful session. Looking forward to what is next and how we can continue this dialogue to help bring in a meaningful impact throughout the value chain.

So much Energy in one room! The power of Collaboration.

Priyanka Singh Head Packaging Development Lotus Herbals: Thank you for having me there Harveer ji. It was my pleasure and I enjoyed being part of such an interactive session.

Swati Gupta Senior Manager Packaging Amway: Thanks for inviting me for this initiative. Enlightening discussion with fellow Industry leaders. Learning on platter! Possibilities, Future thinking and Developers - when they all come together you create something worthwhile - collaborative ecosystem.

Pawan Sahni and Harveer Sahni thank you for envisioning this curated event for Packaging professionals in collaboration with with Flexo Summit Asia in Jaipur. The event was full of knowledge sharing and exploring possibilities. The fellow packaging professionals and the Flexo Industry stalwart made the 2 days, both engaging and mindful with sharing experiences.

Himanshi Mahajan DGM Packaging Development Mother Dairy: Thank you very much for inviting me. I sincerely appreciate the opportunity of entirely unique, interactive sessions and I am grateful to be part of this “Future of Pack” platform.

Jyotsna Tripathi Head Regional Packaging Reckitt: It was an enriching experience attending the Future of Pack breakout session during the Flexo Summit in Jaipur.

A special thanks to Harveer Sahni and Pawan Sahni for facilitating an engaging and interactive forum between brand owners and packaging partners. The thoughtful discussions on current packaging challenges provided meaningful insights and highlighted exciting opportunities for a brighter, more sustainable packaging future.

It was also a wonderful platform to reconnect with peers from the packaging fraternity and catch up with former colleagues Sridhar J Naveen Stuart Barun Banerjee Amit Taneja Chinmaya Dandekar Avneesh Bansal Sanjeev Sondhi Sahil Sheth Diksha Uniyal

Looking forward to more such platform Future of Pack where packaging professionals can collaborate and shape a better future!

J Sridhar Head Packaging Development Plum: Glad, this event gave us the opportunity to meet you! Thanks for the invitation. I thoroughly enjoyed and learnt a lot and made new contacts.

Wishing you good health and need blessings to take the Packaging industry to its zenith. I recently attended the Flexo Summit Asia 2025. Excellent sessions and meaningful debates to have a meaningful discussion. However FutureofPack session was the highlight in my 35-year packaging journey. Led by Harveerji (Harveer Sahni) and Pawan Sahni the event stood out for its rich discussions and inspiring young talent contributing to the brain storming session. As the oldest attendee from the Indian Institute of Packaging (IIP), I was impressed by the enthusiasm and ideas shared by the young minds. Great to meet again Nitin Nair Swati Gupta, Barun Banerjee energetic Dr. Ainain Shahhidi, my old colleagues from HUL; Sanjay Ghoshal Vikas Gupta Naveen Stuart Jyotsna Tripathi after a considerably long time and young new faces Preeti Bambal Priyanka Singh Himanshi Mahajan Shikha Tayal I was fortunate to interact!.

I extend my gratitude to the Flexo Summit Asia 2025 for inviting me and giving me opportunity to connect with trusted partners, including Nirav Shah doyen of Label industry, Vinay Nalawade an expert in Flexible Packaging and an old friend, Thanks to Manoj Kopparam Manjunath from Avery Dennison for inviting me at their facility. Great meeting Kris Flexipacks team after a long time, and Sundeep Adivishnu Moldtek Technologies Limited. Sanjeev Sondhi Zircon Technologies and sharing futuristic ideas. Glad I met Samir Patkar from Heidelberg India and Steve Smith from Miraclon Corporation

The exchange of ideas with the next generation packaging professionals was truly energizing. A special commendation to Pawan Sahni, for expertly steering the first meeting of its kind with supplier partners and Brand owners together, it was simply brilliant! Pawan is a great orator! Sharp thoughts and clarity that are rare to find! God bless him with lots of success and happiness!

Naveen Stuart head packaging at Marico Ltd: What an amazing Flexo Asia summit 2025 event at Jaipur where a diverse mix of value chain partners came together including printers, technology partners, and brand owners. The highlight of the event was “future of pack” which brought great insights from everyone how to take packaging forward.

It was also great opportunity to meet colleagues and friends from packaging fraternity. Kudos to Flexo Asia Summit team and special thanks to Pawan Sahni Harveer Sahni sir for bringing all together

Manas Athinikar DGM Jio Infocomm: We thank you for the opportunity to be part of Prakrtiwe and we both are more than happy to be briefly involved in your thoughts towards the future of the pack.

Manas Kumar Bhunia GM Packaging Development Emami: Honoured to participate in “FUTURE OF PACK” — a unique, future-led, problem-solving collaborative platform bringing together user industries and solution partners to shape the next era of packaging. A big thank you to Harveer Sahni and Pawandeep Sahni for leading this powerful initiative. It was a great privilege to be part of this meaningful and insightful event. Looking forward to continued collaboration and driving impactful innovations in the packaging space!

Nitin Nair Head of Packaging Zydus Wellness: Truly honoured to have been part of Flexo Summit Asia 2025 in Jaipur. Beyond the technological advancements in Flexo printing, the Future of Pack interaction moderated by Pawan Sahni opened up perspectives on the innovation potential that lies ahead for our industry.

Engaging with passionate, forward-driven professionals made the experience even more enriching.

Thank you Harveer Sahni for curating a space for collaboration, learning and collective growth.

Chinmaya Dandekar General Manager Goderaj Consumer Products Ltd. :Past week in Jaipur was special for two reasons. One, the energy and vibrancy of the city is unmatched. And two, I witnessed a wall coming down in the packaging industry.

At the Flexo Summit (Nov 26-27), I had the privilege of representing Godrej Consumer Products Limited (GCPL) as part of the first-ever cohort of Brand Owners invited to this forum.

Historically, these summits have been converter-focused. But this year, the script flipped. It felt like a significant step forward for the industry to recognize that true innovation—the kind that scales—starts with open dialogue between those who make the packaging and those who own the brand.

My highlight was undoubtedly the "Future of Packaging" session. Sharing the platform with converters and industry partners gave us a rare 360-degree view of the challenges we face and the infinite opportunities we hold. It’s refreshing to see what happens when you stop emailing and start talking face-to-face about sustainability, print feasibility, and the road ahead.
Leaving Jaipur with lots of new connections, fresh perspectives, and a lot of optimism for what we can build together.
A special thank you to:
·      Organizers of Future of Pack (Pawan Sahni, Harveer Sahni) and Flexo Summit Asia 2025 for identifying need for this special platform and creating a gathering of great minds in Packaging
·      My fellow brand owners and Indian Institute of Packaging (IIP) alumni (Sridhar J, Naveen Stuart, Nitin Nair, Geetal Mahajan Choudhari, Ph.D. (Tech.), Samir Udhane, Preeti Bambal, Priyanka Singh, Sumit Samanta, Barun Banerjee, Swati Gupta, Nayandeep Banerjee Parul Goel Biswajit Basu) and business partners (Amit Taneja, Avneesh Bansal, Saurabh Newaskar, Sahil Sheth, Sanjeev Sondhi ) for the insightful exchanges. It was a pleasure sharing the forum with you all.
Looking forward to continued collaboration on hashtag#innovation and hashtag#sustainability.

Soumyanath Mishra Associate Vice President & HEAD-Packaging Development MANKIND RESEARCH CENTRE

Grateful to have been part of the Future of Pack event. The discussions and insights reinforced how much potential there is to transform packaging for a more sustainable and efficient future. I am excited to play my part and work together on meaningful solutions that will drive real impact.

 

Sumit Samanta AGM Packaging Development Himalaya Wellness: Harveer Sahni ji thank you for inviting me & for organising such a meticulously planned event with all relevant topics & thoughtful discussions. In packaging fraternities, we need You & Pawan to move things forward. Please extend my thanks to Pawan for driving this so passionately.

 

Presented and collated by Harveer Sahni Chairman Weldon Celloplast Limited November 2025