Orofini Chief bullish about gem industry

By Shehana Dain

OrofiniJewellery has launched its third flagship store in the country adding to its retail reach in Bentota and Beruwala.

The company also has an outlet in Maldives at the Sheraton Fullmoon Resort in Furanafushi Island.

Orofini Managing Director RizwanNayeem told the Daily FT that the company has plans to open up five more jewelry retail outlets and two of them will be launched within the next two years.

“We are looking to roll out three or five shops but we are very selective.We don’t want to open just for the sake of it. We work around the clientele who are discerning about quality jewellery and we want cater to them. Next year we are looking at two locations but nothing is finalised yet. We see a lot of prospects for growth in Sri Lanka and consumer spending is also going to take off so we are looking forward for that,” he added.

Moreover he said that he’s hopeful next year will bring better business due to the Budget proposals.

“The new Budget is going to spur a lot of consumer spending which is good for us and with tourist arrivals we hope it will help the industry further.”

The company’s network of trade clientele includes top end jewelers, designers and wholesalers in New York, London, Paris and Beijing.

However citing challenges the gem industry in Sri Lanka has to face Nayeem said: “We are competing on a worldwide scale. So we need a lot of capital and with the economic cycles up and down we are directly affected.  As far as value addition is concerned in terms of design resources and cutting skills development; those are aspects where the Government can really uplift youngsters. If the Government open up opportunities for youngsters to grow with the trend of skills development I think it would help us.”

The gem store gives its customers the opportunity to purchase jewelry under any budget point. The starting price is at Rs. 5000 and upwards.

Orofini sources gem stones and coloured stones mainly from Sri Lanka and Africa, quality rubies from Myanmar and the emeralds from Colombia and Zambia.

According to Nayeem as far as the blue sapphire is concerned which is the most popular coloured stone in the world Sri Lanka is one of the top suppliers in the world.

Commenting on the company’s competitive edge which sets them apart he highlighted: “For the last 20 years we’re into jewellery retailing as well, where we do high value added designer led jewellery. That is not just selling a gem stone or piece of jewellery we select quality gem stones which is precision cut and we also design them. We bring in a lot of quality design input and we sell them to special customers in Sri Lanka as well as abroad who have high value for quality.”

Orofini Gems have earned unstinted reputation for quality gemstones and impeccable record of reliability amongst their customers in Europe, Middle East and Asia.The newest store in Colombo is fully geared to cater to the discerning customers with design-led quality jewellery as well as bespoke custom made jewellery. More details can be found on the company website – www.orofini.com.