JNA Awards 2020 - Jewellery Industry Best Practices

66 JNA AWARDS • 2020 With her master’s degree in Accounting from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Entrepreneurship programmes she had completed at the prestigious London School of Economics, Ridhi Sohil Gala is well-equipped to pursue a career in finance. However, her passion for design and the craft of jewellery-making ultimately prevailed and led her back to the family business. After briefly working as an auditor at KPMG in Chicago, Gala decided to return to India, where she was offered an entry-level job at Kashi Jewellers – her father’s respected, vertically integrated jewellery company with a global reach. “It is not easy to be a good entrepreneur. You have to acquire and master several skills, from finance and retail to operations and human resources, among others. Being able to multitask is one of its challenges,” says Gala, who currently fulfils multiple roles within the company – that of Partner and Chief Designer & Innovator. Today, she is the prime mover of Kashi’s world-renowned design portfolio, consisting of handcrafted wedding jewellery, and couture and aspirational jewellery collections. Fresh approach As a third-generation jeweller, Gala plays an important role in bringing Kashi into the future. Together with her team, she sustains the core values and legacy of the 65-year-old brand without losing sight of the evolving demands of the modern consumer. One such exercise was Kashi’s recent rebranding. “To connect with more people, we elevated the brand name by transforming our logo completely – making it more recognisable as the ‘Pride of the City’,” she says. Gala also intensified the company’s promise of providing, not only excellent designs, but quality products that are sold at the lowest possible cost. To date, every Kashi product undergoes 25 stages of quality checks, starting from production to the day it is delivered to the customer. In this light, Gala moved to establish additional export manufacturing facilities in Ridhi Sohil GALA Kashi Jewellers Category: Young Entrepreneur of the Year (Age 40 and below) Country / Region: India 1