The Pakko story started as a result of a dream to start business in horticulture – this wasn’t Pakko CEO and founder Nina Nguyen’s dream, but that of her parents.

After migrating to Sydney from Vietnam in the late 1980s, Nguyen’s parents saw the potential to create for themselves a niche market by growing and selling Asian produce. In 2009, when on holidays in Lockyer Valley in Queensland, they fell in love with the rural area and made a spur-of-the-moment decision to stay and start business there.

“My parents said they were going to go on holidays, but when they were there, I get this phone call, and my mom goes, ‘do me a favour, pack up our furniture in a container and send it up’. They had no experience in horticulture, but I wished them luck,” she said.

At that time, Nguyen herself was finding her feet in deciding on a career. She wasn’t interested in the usual nine-to-five jobs and wanted to do something more. At the time, she was living in Fairfield, NSW, and ventured into various businesses, including a beauty salon, a clothing store, and a tattoo studio, all located in South Windsor, NSW.  

“There was opportunity, but they were all lacking something. So, a year or two of my parents starting up their horticulture business, they found it hard because by the time they grew the produce, packed them in a box, stacked them, and sent them to Sydney or Melbourne, the bottom box collapses by the time it gets to the destination. They were just not strong enough,” she said. 

“The different weather conditions, the moisture, it was affecting the boxes. So, I decided to help and found some overseas manufacturers. But with external factors like currency exchange, control quality, fluctuation, and customs clearance coming into play, it wasn’t sustainable.

“So I created Pakko as a manufacturing company in 2017 for the sole purpose of helping my parents. On the first day, I had no idea what I was meant to be doing. I knew what the items were, but couldn’t make out the flow of the process. I also had to get my head around all aspects of the business.

“The first few months were challenging, but it has become an industry that I’ve fallen in love with. There are so many opportunities in this space and people don’t realise how powerful a box can be. We now focus on custom packaging. We help brands share their story, share their message, and make their packaging stand out.

“I’m always challenging the status quo of how something is being done in the manufacturing space, and because of that I keep my relationship and connection with my staff strong so that we always discuss how I can optimise their workloads for them, how I can bring more efficiency into the business without having to bring on more resources, how we can further leverage technology, as well as re-alter certain processes.”

Nguyen spoke about Pakko’s recent acquisition of Boxes R Us, saying that the move wasn’t on the radar and came by unforeseen.

“It wasn’t something that we were looking at, but when the opportunity arose, I looked at Boxes R Us and found it to be a unique company. The way it operated was, storing a lot of pre-cut items stored on the shelf, which a customer selects from, and using a foiling machine to foil on corrugated boxes. It complemented Pakko so well as it’s short-run bespoke packaging for emerging startup businesses.”

Nguyen also addressed the issue around sustainability – corporations wanting to be fully sustainable, but not knowing what that entails – and business longevity.  

“Corporations have an idea of what they want, but then they don’t know how it can be delivered. So, we’re there, in a way, to guide them through that whole process,” she said.

“You’ve also got to balance your product sustainability with business sustainability. You need to look at all the great materials that are sustainable and meet ESG requirements, but you also must look at how you’re going to sustain your business for the next three to five years. And this is where technology steps in – streamlining your front-end, optimising your back end, and making sure your team is on board.”

The inaugural ProPack Packaging Forum would not be possible without the support from its sponsors:
Platinum Sponsor – Durst Oceania
Gold Sponsor – Cyber 
Gold Sponsor – Miraclon 
Bronze Sponsor – Hybrid Software 
Bronze Sponsor – Kissel & Wolf 
Bronze Sponsor – Koenig & Bauer