Do Right & Prosper: The Emile Elias Group of Companies

A multidimensional company history book and business memoir

At Plantain, we craft bespoke family and company history books.

Charlotte Elias entrusted us with helping her father, Emile Elias, honour the 50th company anniversary of a group he founded, and that today includes the number one indigenous construction company in the Caribbean (NH).

This story starts with Emile’s parents who, like many other migrants searching for someplace better, left their home in Lebanon in the 1920s, with little more than their stuffed cardboard suitcases and a will to re-create their life an ocean away.

This book captures the intertwined narrative of key players and the historical events that shaped Emile and, by extension, the company. It also looks to the future and sets out the unique culture and values that will help the company strategize for the next 5 decades (especially important for incoming employees and future generations). Finally, the book and its story will help humanise the company, and the stories collected during the process will be utilized to help it connect authentically with the public.

After hundreds of hours of writing, developmental editing, research, and design, our team developed a story that had been over 50 years in the making.

Our work also informed the backbone to a corporate film, web content, the company anniversary celebrations and speeches.

1,500 copies of this book were printed on Accent Opaque Text White Smooth paper (148gsm), allowing for a super smooth finish for near matte print fidelity.

This book was also part of a wider company rebranding, and the following fonts were settled upon: LL Replica and Freight Text.

You can learn more about the project on plantain.me.