UAE: Leading jewellery businessman releases memoir, hopes to inspire entrepreneurs

A UAE-based businessman has released his memoirs, tracing his journey from a single shop in Abu Dhabi to a business conglomerate across the world.

Joy Alukkas, the chairman and managing director of Joyalukkas Group, launched his autobiography titled 'Spreading Joy: How Joy Alukkas became the World’s Favourite Jeweller' at the Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) on Sunday.

In a ceremony hosted by Bollywood actress and Joyalukkas brand ambassador Kajol, the entrepreneur revealed that passion and hardwork were vital to succeed in a business. He also elaborated how he learnt from his employees and beat odds to build 160 showrooms in 11 countries as part of his ambitious expansion plans.

“I learnt a lot of things from the Dubai experience as well as from my employees,” he said. “Anybody can have a success story like mine if you have the passion. The book is an effort to share my life’s journey so that others can learn from it. You will understand the hardwork and pain that has gone into building my business. Future generations can learn business tricks and understand challenges through it.”

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The book, written in collaboration with Thomas Scaria and Nidhi Jain and published by HarperCollins, is available in English, Arabic and Malayalam.

Son of a jewellery store owner, Joy Alukkas arrived in the Middle East to open the family's first overseas jewellery store named Alukkas jewellery in 1987 in Abu Dhabi. In 2000, he broke away from the family business to launch his own brand. Today, the group also has a mall, a fashion label, a money exchange and a real estate company apart from jewellery stores.

For aspiring entrepreneurs

The book captures his phenomenal entrepreneurial story, while providing rare insights into an industry that has predominantly been fragmented and disorganised. According to Alukkas, the book will provide aspiring entrepreneurs the motivation and know-how on how to build their dream organisations.

He has dedicated the book to his father and the legacy he left behind. "The success story of our brand, Joyalukkas, the world's largest single-owned jewellery retail chain, did not happen overnight,” he said. “The legacy, initiated by my father, Alukka Joseph Varghese in 1956, is commemorating 35 years in the UAE this year."

"Throughout the years, we have continued to receive love, trust, recognition, and applause from our customers and business associates worldwide. As 2023 comes to a close, I am excited to share, for the very first time, the journey of my trials and tribulations and how, with unwavering consistency and perseverance, we have achieved success and growth.”

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