JYF's 'Learn to Earn' Forum - II - A Great Initiative by Committee Members

The highlight of JYF’s Learn to Earn - II was Emerald Jeweller’s K.Srinivasan’s powerful & inspiring story of his success. With a rapt audience, the forum was certainly a welcome change and a good platform for knowledge sharing reports Vijetha Rangabashyam

Post By : IJ News Service On 08 October 2017 3:19 PM

The Second Edition of Jewellers Youth Forum’s ‘Learn to Earn’ took place today with a packed audience at Four Seasons, Worli, Mumbai. Present at the inauguration was K. Srinivasan, MD, Emerald Jewels, Mithun Sancheti, Founder, CaratLane, Professor VK Murti of SP Jain Institute of Management, Mahindra Jain of JYF and other committee members.

In March 2016, when the industry was in the midst of excise and other policy regulations, 13 young entrepreneurs came together to form Jewellers Youth Forum. They felt that business should be harmonious and fun and young minds should come together to tackle problems plaguing the industry and this was the reason behind JYF’s inception.

“When we go to Zaaveri Bazar, we only knew the names of the company but we felt we should know the people behind them and JYF seeks to get people together. Competition should be there in creation and innovation but not in pricing,” said Mahindra Jain, committee member.

The forum began with Srinivasan’s inspiring talk on his journey and how he made Emerald Jewels such a massive empire. He spoke of his humble beginning, and how he came to Ahmedabad with all of Rs 25000. With goodwill of industry people, constant thirst to do something different and quality products, he slowly started becoming more and more successful in his business. “When my business started becoming profitable, I didn’t buy car or home, I invested back into the business. I learnt the tricks of the trade, watched goldsmiths work, learnt casting, dying etc.” But tackling goldsmiths was always a problem which is when Srinivasan thought of starting his own manufacturing unit. “I started with Filigree, then I got into highly polished jewellery which became a big success. Then I got into platinum and recently silver. I travelled and got international exposure. Brought all the technology back to my manufacturing unit. I won’t stop with silver, I will even produce imitation jewellery. Our job is to make jewellery and we are getting paid for it. Sky is the limit.”

From Manufacturing, Srinivasan got into the retail space and created the brand Jewel One which has 14 stores across Tamil Nadu. Speaking about GST and other policies, he said, “Don’t let policies and GST discourage you. I can tell you that I have done very well with those policies. Being organized means not just giving and receiving vouchers. You have to follow the law of the land. I have faith in the system and in the 33 years I have not failed.” His talk received a standing ovation from one and all present at the forum.

Mithun Sancheti, Founder, CaratLane, also spoke of how important it is to be organized in the industry. Hailing from a family of Jewellers, Mithun has had many sleepless nights after a sales tax raid in 2002. “We saw that the online space was doing very well in the U.S. and there was a lot of potential in India too. More visibility of gold meant more sales and we felt a digital platform could do that,” he said. After growing his business to a reasonable scale, Mithun said that he still lacked the confidence one needs to grow a business and hence he equipped himself with an Executive MBA from IIM, Bangalore. “That phase completely changed the way I think. It opened my horizons. I was thinking of everything I had learnt and how I can apply it to my business.” Mithun also confessed how he had been lucky in this journey. “I got a message from Lee Fixel from Tiger Global. I was initially very skeptical but eventually I got 6 million dollar funding from them. One must make use of opportune moments in life but also remember love at first sight may work for people but not business. Always think before making decisions,” he warned the audience.

Mitun always wanted to collaborate with Tanishq, the gold standard for jewellery. He had to convince his VC quite a bit but he made it happen. “Put your business before yourself. Nothing is fatal in this business. Whether it is GST or demonetization, it only takes 6 months to bounce back. You have to withstand that period. Our fights are not for the interest of the country and that has to change. We need to work towards fixing the industry,” he concluded.

The forum concluded with Professor Murthy’s insightful tips on creating a successful business. It is interesting to witness the initiation of such forums and more importantly, the reception it received on a Sunday morning.

Be the first to comment

Leave a comment

Email Alerts

WhatsApp Alerts