Ashish Shah: Making 'Gold Star' A Name To Be Reckoned
Ashish Shah
Managing Director
In 1991, when Gold Star entered the jewellery market, it was an almost mint market that didn't have a lot of players. The hunger to learn more kept Ashish going and he also envisioned establishing a hold over the market. He soon started acquiring all the traits and skills required to manufacture jewellery. The desire to excel pushed him to test his limits. It paid off, as Ashish soon became the MD of the firm and subsequently helped the organization grow much more prolifically.
Helping a company of worth Rs.55 crore in 1999 to emerge as a company of worth Rs.1100 crore has been a rollercoaster ride for Ashish with its own set of twists and turns. Insistent on achieving his top-line and bottom-line targets, Ashish is seamlessly engaged in keeping Gold Star at the pinnacle. He believes that it is his major driving force behind his journey today. People often think that staying in one company stagnates a person's growth, but Ashish believes that it was his destiny. Strongly believing in the fact that `once a person sets his/her mind on something and is determined to complete/achieve it, no one can stop him/her', he has aligned his vision with Gold Star's. His loyalty towards the company along with his vision, dedication and hard work has made Gold Star a name to be reckoned. Below is an excerpt of Ashish's interview with CEO Insights.
1. Define Gold Star Jewellery as an organization and its position in the market? How does your company stand unique among your competitors in the industry?
From being a new start-up company in 1989 to being, a company of worth Rs.1100 crore in 2021 has been a long, exciting, emotional, and thrilling journey. It has been an incredible ride with curves, but the determination to work hard as well as the dream and vision of Satish Shah along with the support of the employees has made Gold Star a name to be remembered in the market. Gold Star aims to be at the Pinnacle Always and that's what it
follows and strives to do to become the best the industry has ever seen. In simple words, `Gold Star is a dream of one but the success of many'.
In terms of uniqueness, Gold Star has always believed in being fair and delivering conflict-free and expert-quality diamonds to its customers. Gold Star has 21 diamond patents and special cuts that are customized as per customer requirements. Gold Star has the widest spread of diamond grids with the most advantageous price proposition.
2. How has been your response to the challenges posed by the COVID-affected market and the need for new strategies? How would you describe your role in tackling those challenges?
With agile leadership and a resilient workforce that worked as a cohesive unit, we take care of our employees at various stages be it physical health, financial health, and emotional health. When we say physical health, we wanted our employees to stay fit and safe and to give them a safe environment and boost their immunity we distributed immunity boosters like Vitamin C tablets, Natural Ayurvedic, Ayush (Ministry of Health, government of India) recommended mixes, PPE (Face Shields, Masks), Sanitizers and so on. These vitamins & immunity boosters were given not only for them but also for their families as we do believe that employees' families are also an extension of our Gold Star Family.
Apart from the immunity boosters we mandatorily covered all our employees i.e., permanent as well as contractual under Medical Insurance Schemes as ESIC and Group Medical Insurance. Along with physical health, mental/emotional health is equally important. We at Gold Star believe that a healthy mind is equally important and to do so the HR department became the counselors and helped the employees clarify their doubts and just assure them that everything is fine. In those difficult times, Gold Star had to face some difficult situations where we had to impose pay cuts but to boost the morale of the employees; we gave our employees a 10 percent COVID allowance added to their salaries.
Once the business slowly started gaining momentum, we reinstated the pay during November 2020 on Diwali Day, The happiest day for the management. The Management made the next Big Announcement on the New Year wherein all the salary that was deducted was given back as arrears to the employees. With such steps taken Gold Star saw a negligible number of its employees & their extended workforce getting affected by the dreaded Corona, but with the grace of God, we are happy to announce that there was minimal damage to the health of our employees.
In terms of uniqueness, Gold Star has always believed in being fair and delivering conflict-free and expert-quality diamonds to its customers. Gold Star has 21 diamond patents and special cuts that are customized as per customer requirements. Gold Star has the widest spread of diamond grids with the most advantageous price proposition.
2. How has been your response to the challenges posed by the COVID-affected market and the need for new strategies? How would you describe your role in tackling those challenges?
With agile leadership and a resilient workforce that worked as a cohesive unit, we take care of our employees at various stages be it physical health, financial health, and emotional health. When we say physical health, we wanted our employees to stay fit and safe and to give them a safe environment and boost their immunity we distributed immunity boosters like Vitamin C tablets, Natural Ayurvedic, Ayush (Ministry of Health, government of India) recommended mixes, PPE (Face Shields, Masks), Sanitizers and so on. These vitamins & immunity boosters were given not only for them but also for their families as we do believe that employees' families are also an extension of our Gold Star Family.
Gold star's aim is to be at the pinnacle always and that's what it follows and strives to do to become the best that the industry has ever seen
Apart from the immunity boosters we mandatorily covered all our employees i.e., permanent as well as contractual under Medical Insurance Schemes as ESIC and Group Medical Insurance. Along with physical health, mental/emotional health is equally important. We at Gold Star believe that a healthy mind is equally important and to do so the HR department became the counselors and helped the employees clarify their doubts and just assure them that everything is fine. In those difficult times, Gold Star had to face some difficult situations where we had to impose pay cuts but to boost the morale of the employees; we gave our employees a 10 percent COVID allowance added to their salaries.
Once the business slowly started gaining momentum, we reinstated the pay during November 2020 on Diwali Day, The happiest day for the management. The Management made the next Big Announcement on the New Year wherein all the salary that was deducted was given back as arrears to the employees. With such steps taken Gold Star saw a negligible number of its employees & their extended workforce getting affected by the dreaded Corona, but with the grace of God, we are happy to announce that there was minimal damage to the health of our employees.
3. Share some of the major milestones that bestowed you with utmost satisfaction both at personal and professional levels?
I am a passionate teacher and I love to mentor the next line of leaders in the jewellery industry. Starting my journey as an assorter to becoming Managing Director, I have been blessed to understand the nuances of the business and thus have scaled Gold Star to a great height.
4. Going forward, what are the changes in market behavior that you anticipate, and what are the opportunities that you foresee?
Consumer behavior at retail has taken a turn where we are witnessing a hybrid of Brick and Mortar alongside the ether model. Thus, jewellery buying has also changed but the required experience remains the same. Breaking this code and being able to still hold onto the consumer base and expansion has been the reason for Gold Star's success.
5. In view of your strong experience across this domain, what would be your advice for budding entrepreneurs?
People often call me a man of few words and a bit aggressive even; but a little aggressiveness to achieve your goals never hurt anyone. It is said that honesty is the best policy and I believe that when one is honest and shows integrity in his/her work, he/she will always succeed no matter how badly the world tries to push you down. Analyzing critical situations and providing quick yet accurate decisions is what my forte is.
Ashish Shah, MD, Gold Star Jewellery
Having 30 years of rich experience in the jewelry business and manufacturing around the world, Ashish Vinod Shah holds a bachelor's degree in Commerce from NMIMS institute, Mumbai. He began his professional journey as a part time LIC agent selling insurance policies. Soon he got an opportunity to join Gold Star Diamond as a diamond assorting trainee where he learnt everything from rough diamond assortment to diamond manufacturing.
In 1991, Gold Star Diamond spread its wings into the Jewellery manufacturing sector and started Gold Star Jewellery where he was appointed as a custodian and later learnt everything about Jewellery manufacturing and started handling the overall operations. In 1998, as Gold Star was expanding and the customer needs were changing and thus, he started the product development department to meet the rising needs and demands of the customers. In order to attract more customers and increase the overall sales from Rs.55crore to Rs.100 crores, Ashish was promoted as Director Sales in the year 1999 and later in 2002 became the Managing Director of Gold Star Jewellery.
· Hobbies: Watching movies, theatre and listening to old Hindi songs
· Favorite Cuisine: Indo Chinese
· Favorite Book: The Secret
· Favorite Travel Destination: Hrishikesh
· Awards & Recognition: National Achievements' award for Quality Excellence
I am a passionate teacher and I love to mentor the next line of leaders in the jewellery industry. Starting my journey as an assorter to becoming Managing Director, I have been blessed to understand the nuances of the business and thus have scaled Gold Star to a great height.
4. Going forward, what are the changes in market behavior that you anticipate, and what are the opportunities that you foresee?
Consumer behavior at retail has taken a turn where we are witnessing a hybrid of Brick and Mortar alongside the ether model. Thus, jewellery buying has also changed but the required experience remains the same. Breaking this code and being able to still hold onto the consumer base and expansion has been the reason for Gold Star's success.
5. In view of your strong experience across this domain, what would be your advice for budding entrepreneurs?
People often call me a man of few words and a bit aggressive even; but a little aggressiveness to achieve your goals never hurt anyone. It is said that honesty is the best policy and I believe that when one is honest and shows integrity in his/her work, he/she will always succeed no matter how badly the world tries to push you down. Analyzing critical situations and providing quick yet accurate decisions is what my forte is.
Ashish Shah, MD, Gold Star Jewellery
Having 30 years of rich experience in the jewelry business and manufacturing around the world, Ashish Vinod Shah holds a bachelor's degree in Commerce from NMIMS institute, Mumbai. He began his professional journey as a part time LIC agent selling insurance policies. Soon he got an opportunity to join Gold Star Diamond as a diamond assorting trainee where he learnt everything from rough diamond assortment to diamond manufacturing.
In 1991, Gold Star Diamond spread its wings into the Jewellery manufacturing sector and started Gold Star Jewellery where he was appointed as a custodian and later learnt everything about Jewellery manufacturing and started handling the overall operations. In 1998, as Gold Star was expanding and the customer needs were changing and thus, he started the product development department to meet the rising needs and demands of the customers. In order to attract more customers and increase the overall sales from Rs.55crore to Rs.100 crores, Ashish was promoted as Director Sales in the year 1999 and later in 2002 became the Managing Director of Gold Star Jewellery.
· Hobbies: Watching movies, theatre and listening to old Hindi songs
· Favorite Cuisine: Indo Chinese
· Favorite Book: The Secret
· Favorite Travel Destination: Hrishikesh
· Awards & Recognition: National Achievements' award for Quality Excellence