CLUBJIO…The Jeweller’s School for real-world Knowledge, Skill & Attitude Enhancement

by Suman Gupta

In the past 3 years the Gem & Jewellery Industry has been faced with a diverse set of challenges that have impacted the energy in retailing. Demonetization, the Adhar and Pan Card Mandate, the saturation of the appetite of the average diamond jewellery purchaser, the new gen’s attitude towards all things gold and diamond, the foray of the national brands across mini metros and tiny cities  – in all of these situations, the worst hit is the family jeweler. Not only has there been a hit in business/margins for many a jeweler, there has also been a hit in pride and confidence of the future. It is in times like these, that the traditional family jeweler looks up to progressive thoughts and ideas that could help him surf the tide of change. CLUBJIO is a niche initiative that would bring about a wave of change and influence management in jewellery retailing.

Founded by Navin Sadarangani (NYUZ) and with 3 co-venturers Abhijit Prajapati (Artistry), Prernaa Makhariaa (StylePrer) and Samir Malwade (Siba Ads), its a small niche platform of 50 jewellers from around 25 cities that would meet 6 times a year.  These meetings would comprise of various educative and entertaining formats of learning starting from Gyaanvaadi ki Gupshup, Personal FX, The Learning Curve, What Women Want, Networth @ Network, The Debate, The Human Library and many such innovative real-world sessions. Learnings would take place with the curated involvement of Specialists who are well tuned on to the workings of the jewellery industry. These speakers could be architects, software professionals, ad agency owners, bloggers, stylists, theatre artists, actors and many others from the human library. A lot of learning could also be the result of the interactions within themselves as each jeweller is a retailer of repute from the city that he originates. Being an Owners Only domain each one thrives on the energy and interaction from the other and looks at this as an excellent opportunity to learn from the other.

CLUBJIO has received the support of SGL, Romil Jewelry, B.N.Jewellers and RBZ Jewellers who have come in at different levels of sponsorship but with the common belief that “Knowledge is Power, and Power like Knowledge grows with sharing”.

The first session of CLUBJIO was flagged off with the Kit Distribution at the Registration desk. Shailesh Sangani joining the Core and the Sponsors at the auspicious lamp lighting. He then gave an insight into the World of CVD, the Gold Reality of the coming future, the Govt reforms that were likely and other interesting trivia. This was followed by Satyajit Chourasia (Fitness Guru) who is a personal trainer to the Lodha family and is also the man responsible for the Ghajini frame of Aamir Khan and for Hrithik Roshans body sculpt. WIFT (Women in Film & TV) headed by Petrina D’Rozario had an engaging learning banter when Lubna Salim, Ruhi Singh, Shweta Rohira & Pia Roy joined in on the subject of What Women Want. Samit Bhatta upped the energy quotient post the break with some outstanding marketing exposures that gave room for thought. Rahul Bansal followed next and he shared some interesting work in architecture for the country’s leading jewellery and luxury stores The grand finale was a presentation by Rahul Roy (Actor) on his ups and downs as he made way through Aashiqui and other films and also became the winner of the first Big Boss.

At the end of it all, as the jewellery participants headed for a late lunch, there was a load of interaction that summed up the ethos that CLUBJIO was well received. Feedback was gathered and a couple of valid suggestions were taken up for implementation from the next session. An elegant selfie zone custom designed by Artistry saw great engagement amidst all the networking. The next CLUBJIO meet would take place in 2 months time somewhere around the middle of March. Meanwhile the social media handles are already up and more of the insights can be seen on www.clubjio.com