Ghaus Siwani/New Delhi
This is the story of the vision of a man who started with selling pepper, coconut, and cloves that grew naturally in his native state of Kerala to owning one of the largest Indian gold jewelry brands that have a presence across the world.
M P Ahmed, the owner of the Malabar Gold & Diamond was a 20-year-old man and educated up to 12th standard when he opened his first venture - a shop in his hometown of Malabar to sell the famed Kerala spices – coconut, pepper, cloves, cardamom, mace, nutmeg, etc.
That was way back in 1979. He supplied cardamom, pepper, and coconut to retailers in his Kozhikode. However, he soon realized that there was no possibility of scaling up this trade as the market was already saturated. Ahmed researched the market thoroughly and found that people in the informal sector were emotional about jewelry.
He decided to venture into the jewelry industry.
Ahmed started his business in his hometown of Malabar. However, he needed money for expanding business to the level that it will bring in profit. "I talked to my relatives and seven of them joined the project," Ahmed said. Not that the relatives had too much expendable money; each of them could only manage to invest a few lakhs.
To start the business, Ahmed sold some assets and raised Rs 5 million to invest in the business and thus he started manufacturing Jewelry. In 1993, the company started as a small 400-square-foot shop in Calicut. Ahmed bought gold bars and engaged goldsmiths to make jewelry out of those.
KP Narayanan, head of media and marketing at Malabar Gold and Diamonds, said, "At a very young age and just passing 12th class, MP Ahmed learned rare and valuable professional lessons. However, he did not want to dwell on that alone. They wanted to do something big.”
One of the outlets of Malabar gold and diamonds in Kerala
Describing Ahmed's life, Narayanan says that in the early years of his business journey, Ahmed KP met a retailer in Mumbai who was well off but, due to some financial crisis, he was unable to pay his dues and had to close his business. The retailer told Ahmed that he would sell his brand to clear his dues.
This interaction made Ahmed realize the importance of a brand. He didn’t want to create a brand is spices and instead chose jewelry.
From this point, it was a different journey for him. Ahmed’s research showed that the gold market was in the hands of the unorganized sector and there was a need for branded jewelry. He chose the name of his hometown Malabar to create a brand and thus came into existence his new company that is not a symbol of elegance for a woman.
Ahmed says in 1999, he felt the need to improve the quality of gold jewelry and brought BIS Hallmark jewelry to Kerala. The 916-carat meter in gold added to the appeal and the brand has not looked back since. They started well and customers were impressed with the design and texture. In a short time, Malabar Gold and Diamonds opened two more stores in other small towns in Kerala - Tirur, and Telichary.
Today Malabar Gold and diamond has 250 stores across the country; actor Kareena Kapoor as its brand ambassador and it employs about 13,000 people. Its annual revenue is $4.51 Billion
Ahmed had started working on his dream in 1993 with the help of seven investors whose share in the company has today risen to Rs 27,000 crore in the last financial year.
Currently, Malabar Golds & Diamonds is pursuing an aggressive retail expansion plan and is planning to open 750 stores globally over the next five years. It has earmarked Rs 7000 crores for expansion by opening stores in Singapore, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Bangkok.
Narayanan said that Malabar is also expanding its investor base. The company now plans to target investors in the northern and central parts of the country.
Today, the group has established itself in jewelry retail, wholesale and manufacturing, real estate and infrastructure development, home furniture, electronics, and home appliances, and IT services and business solutions.
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