Diwali: Add sparkle to lives this season

During Diwali there is a big demand for gold and jewellery in the UAE

Joy Alukkas, Chairman and MD, Joyalukkas Group, prefers to be described as a man with a simple heart and huge dreams. He enjoys every aspect of being an entrepreneur, the challenges, pleasures, quick decision-making skills, as well as learning from failures.Like his name, every aspect of running the business is indeed a joy for him. He loves visiting friends for Diwali.
 
"Many of our friends have invited us for Diwali. It's the festival of lights and I am looking forward to lighting it up with happiness amongst my family and friends," he says in an interview with Khaleej Times.
This season is busy for him in terms of business. "Gold and jewellery is an integral part of Diwali celebrations and people consider it auspicious to purchase it during this season. During Diwali, there is a big demand for gold and jewellery. We have attractive winnings and many tempting offers to make every shopper's celebration even more special and joyous," the MD reveals.
What makes this jewellery retailer different from competitors is that it is one of the best in terms of choice, designs, convenience, service, knowledge and value. "We put in a lot of effort and hard work to ensure every shopper has a delightful jewellery shopping experience at Joyalukkas," Joy says.
He admits that the jewellery business has changed over the years. "The traditional and cultural sentiment towards jewellery remains unchanged but what has changed are trends, designs and choices currently available. Today jewellery lovers are spoilt for choice and at Joyalukkas we offer a variety of over one million designs to pick from," he notes.

Vision and Mission Our vision is to 'Ornament the World' and our mission is to improve and enrich lives by offering extraordinary lifestyle solutions backed by incomparable value-additions, adhering to globally approved processes and norms and creating a successful value chain for our customers and associates.

Joyalukkas Jewellery is the flagship brand of the company and will continue to remain so for a long time to come. "We have scaled up our jewellery business immensely since inception in 1987. Today, our jewellery is a 120-plus showroom chain spread across 11 countries around the world and growing. We will continue to expand our jewellery business whenever we see the right opportunity," he informs.
The MD attributes the success of his organisation to the staff and knowledge of the market. "We have people who are thoroughly trained and 100 per cent committed to meeting customer expectations. Our strong understanding of trends and customer tastes, our stringent adherence to quality, our showroom locations and the unlimited choice we offer are our advantages."
According to him, challenges are a part and parcel of every business and some key challenges in the jewellery business are price fluctuations of gold and keeping up with constantly evolving and changing trends.
He admits that the best advice that he received was from his father. "My father told me that any business without a customer is worthless, so always ensure you treat your customer like a king. This I consider the best advice I have received and follow at all times."
Joy stresses that he would never compromise on quality. "I will do everything to keep our customer's trust and faith in us. The core of a jewellery business is trust, so this is something I will never ever compromise on."
However, Joy feels he could have done more in his personal life. "I don't think I have managed an ideal balance between life and work to date, but am surely working towards this personal goal. I get to spend less time with family as I am constantly travelling on business."
The group is strongly involved in Corporate Social Responsibility. He says, "I believe you have to care for the community and the environment you thrive in. We undertake many CSR activities to touch the lives of people who need assistance, be it financial or otherwise, from building homes for the poor to organising blood donation drives. My CSR team works actively towards helping people who are in need."
-suchitra@khaleejtimes.com  
 

• Dubai

Suchitra Steven Samuel

• suchitra@khaleejtimes.com