21 Oct 2022
60 percent of British start-ups fail within the first three years*. Thanks, in part, to the advice and investment from mentor and investor Ryan Howsam, entrepreneur Santiago Navarro, CEO of then Garçon Wines and now Packamama, is one such example of a start-up leader who has avoided that ruinous fate. Within five years, Santiago has taken his fledgling business, rooted in his eco-flat wine bottle innovation, from concept stage to revenue generating and on to multinational success. With more than two million bottles ordered to date, despite the strong headwinds of a global pandemic, the innovation is now taking the industry by storm. Part of this journey has been covered in the TV show Fix Or Fail, to be broadcast on Thursday 20 October 2022 at 8pm on 5Select – then available on My5.
How it started:
Santiago started the filming process with Ryan Howsam and his team on Fix Or Fail soon after his novel wine bottle innovation, that underpinned the idea for a wine through the letterbox discovery club, had been seen on Pop Up Start Up (CNBC International) in 2017. Aside from generating significant interest from UK wine lovers, the slimline, lightweight bottles caught the eye of significant players in the alcohol industry.
Contrary to the initial concept of a direct-to-consumer UK wine club, Ryan's first piece of advice on Fix Or Fail was to leverage the innovation's larger opportunity by focusing instead on selling it to other businesses.
Furthermore, under Ryan's mentorship the bottle designs were refined, production brought to the UK, 284 design patents across 35 countries were registered for flat bottle shapes, the bottle weight reduced even further to 63g, and pricing evolved. His advice not only led to business growth but also to having a far greater impact in tackling a wider industry packaging problem; round, glass wine bottles are the single largest contributor to wine's carbon footprint due to their heavy weight and spatial inefficiency.
How it's going:
Thanks to Ryan's advice to focus on the largest 27 billion bottle market opportunity internationally and sell the packaging to other wineries, Garçon Wines, as it was known at the time of filming Fix Or Fail, spun off the flat bottle packaging into a new business under the name Packamama. In addition to flat-packing, the bottles are made from 100% recycled PET. Packamama has secured an impressive roster of wine company customers to use their bottles including Accolade Wines, the UK's no.1 wine company, Moët Hennessy's Château Galoupet, Miguel Torres Chile, and Taylors Wines of Australia. Last month, Packamama surpassed the two millionth bottle ordered having smashed through the previous milestone reached in February of one million bottles – doubling volume in just seven months.
Additionally, Ryan's strategic advice from granular insights have enabled the creation of two business lines. Packamama will continue to address the wine and wider drinks packaging market. Garçon Wines will now evolve and soon relaunch as a sustainable, direct-to-consumer wine brand owner with scope to reinvigorate the initial wine through the letterbox discovery club idea featured in both TV shows.
Santiago Navarro, CEO & founder of Packamama, said “I am deeply grateful to Ryan Howsam for his support in the form of much-needed direction and investment. Fix Or Fail provides an insightful glimpse into the challenges faced by budding entrepreneurs like me. When one's business is their brainchild, then they can benefit significantly from the sage advice of a seasoned businessman like Ryan. We are never free from the risk of failure – no business is – but we have definitely been fixed in the right direction towards a course of multinational growth and success thanks to Ryan's pragmatic mentorship.”
* The Telegraph source
Fix Or Fail on 5Select (Freeview 55) Thursday 20 October 2022 at 8pm – Trailer linked here
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Packamama is the climate tech packaging business designed for a circular economy and offering packaging protecting Mother Earth, that has been spun off from Garçon Wines. Believing in the far-reaching opportunity that packaging offers to be a force for good, Packamama is on a mission to help create a low carbon future in the drinks industry, starting with better wine bottles: multi award-winning, ecoeco-flat bottles that save space, weight and energy to slash emissions. This tackles the wine industry's carbon footprint hotspot of round, glass bottles. Headquartered in London, UK, Packamama is powered by a production network of industry leaders in the UK, Australia and soon, the US and France. A passionate team provide forward-thinking wine companies and brands with the packaging and production to implement Packamama's IP-protected portfolio of innovative, climate-friendly bottles into their businesses and across the world.
www.packamama.com | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram
Garçon Wines is re-establishing itself as a brand owner of challenger wine brands rooted in sustainability, created to be loved by hyper-targeted consumer tribes. Offering eco-friendliness as standard without compromising on convenience, the business sources sustainably produced wines, transports and packages them using lower carbon footprint options, and capitalises on booming alcohol ecommerce by selling direct-to-consumer.
Ryan Howsam is the founder and Chairman of multiple household name companies within his insurance group, Staysure, which is the market leader and includes the brands Avanti, Rock and Paying Too Much, as well as PetSure. Each of the brands in his insurance portfolio have one common aim: to dominate, innovate and disrupt in the niche insurance space.
Ryan has several other businesses including a Real Estate Investment Trust in Spain, Arimelia ITG Socimi SA, whose most recent venture is a luxury co-working and office space in Marbella, Spain. The centre, Centro House, blends business facilities with accommodation and brings the feel of a private members club to co working.
Ryan would have loved to have been a top golfer but wasn't good enough so did the next best thing. Combining his passion for golf and business, Ryan is the majority stakeholder in The Legends Tour and in addition to building the tour, he has recently launched the charity play Golf Lottery in the UK. He himself has a scratch handicap.
Ryan created his own 90 Days programme and app, based on the principles of the OKR framework. He personally uses the system and app to help set and measure goals, and improve lifestyle and performance as do his network of companies and employees. Ryan is hugely proactive in supporting and mentoring emerging entrepreneurial talents and start-ups within the UK, as well as established enterprises wanting to progress or reshape.
www.ryanhowsam.com | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube | www.arimelia.com | www.legendstour.com
