“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