For a diversified group like IBL, a common direction is built through strategy, investment choices, governance, culture, people and the decisions made every day. The narrative and brand play a complementary role: they help make that direction clearer, more coherent and easier to understand.
For IBL, this becomes more important as the Group grows across the region. The question is: how to build a Group narrative that can travel across geographies while remaining meaningful in each local context? In practical terms, this means creating a common IBL story while allowing each business and territory to express it through its own proof points, references and market realities.
This is also where brand architecture matters. The goal is not to make every company speak in exactly the same way, or to erase what makes each business close to its market. It is to create enough coherence for stakeholders to understand how the different parts of the Group connect, what IBL stands for, and how its businesses contribute to a shared direction.
It was with this objective in mind that IBL undertook a brand refresh in 2025. Without changing its logo, the Group refined its messaging and positioning to better reflect what it has become nearly a decade after the Ireland Blyth-GML merger: a regional group with a diverse portfolio of businesses, a Mauritian heritage, and a growing presence across the Indian Ocean and East Africa.
The exercise went beyond communication. It was about bringing greater clarity to the Group’s architecture: what belongs to the common foundation, what should remain specific to each company, and how the whole can be understood without diluting the identity of individual businesses. For Jacqueline Bax de Keating, Creative Communications and Campaign Manager at IBL, this type of exercise begins with alignment. “Whether it is the creation of a new brand or an identity refresh, the first challenge is to bring all stakeholders on board,” she explains. “It is a key moment to create alignment and engagement around the brand. The next step is to help the brand evolve in a constantly changing environment, without ever distorting its DNA. It also means avoiding generic messaging, so the brand can remain distinctive.”
The same process is also taking place across several subsidiaries. Manser Saxon is one such example. For over thirty years, the company has helped shape some of the most recognisable spaces in Mauritius. Over time, it has also grown and brought several areas of expertise under one roof. “It was important that our identity reflected who we are today: our values, our ambitions and the breadth of what we do,” says Smiti Somar, Marketing and Communications Officer at Manser Saxon. “The exercise was not just about a new logo. It was about structuring our sub-brands more clearly and sharpening how we position ourselves in the market. That led to some name changes among our subsidiaries, bringing them closer to the Manser Saxon name and the trust it carries. Tornado Ltd became Manser Saxon HVAC Ltd, and a new business unit was launched under the name HOME by Manser Saxon.”
IBL Energy is now going through a similar process. Currently working on a rebrand to better reflect how its business has evolved, the company is using the brand as a tool for clarity, one that supports its regional ambitions and sets a framework for the next stages of its development.
For a Group like IBL, which continues to grow and diversify, coherence matters. A brand that is too centralised can weaken what makes each business distinct. A brand that is too fragmented can make it harder to understand what connects the Group as a whole. The challenge is to build an architecture that is clear and balanced: strong enough to create coherence, and flexible enough to allow each company to express its own expertise, market knowledge and identity. “We see this as a complementary strength,” says Smiti. “We benefit from the support and credibility of the IBL brand, while continuing to affirm our own identity and expertise.”
This balance is also central to how Jacqueline Bax de Keating sees the role of the IBL brand. “On one hand, the IBL brand provides a common foundation: a purpose and values that create connections across very different activities. On the other, the autonomy of each brand is essential, so that every business can exist fully in its own right.”
This is where IBL’s identity refresh becomes more than a brand exercise. It gives the Group a shared language that supports its transformation, strengthens its regional development and explains, with greater clarity, how its different activities contribute to a shared ambition.
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