Raksha JETSHAN

of Bijouterie Ravior, Quatre Bornes

Bijouterie Ravior is the Grand Prize Winner of the Barclays Business Year 2004 Awards. How do you feel about winning this trophy?

I am very happy and proud of this recognition. I was not expecting the award at all. This prize goes a long way to reward all the members of our team. This is basically the achievement of teamwork. We have some fifteen people working in the enterprise. It is a family business. We have been in the trade since 1982 and have been very successful in producing designer jewellery.

We are launching a second shop in Rivière-Noire very shortly. We are pleased that this trophy coincides with the opening of our new business.

To what extent is your offering unique on the market?

My brother, Ravi, is in charge of all the design and artwork. As I just told you, we do a lot of designer products. Here, we create models that are truly unique. You won?t get two products of the same design. We are the only company in Mauritius to have adopted this concept.

We are always on the lookout for new technologies. This year, we have invested in new machinery to work with titanium, a metal commonly used in aeronautics. Working with titanium and gold provides us with a lot of creative possibilities. We can even reproduce a person?s handwriting on the jewelry.

Do you have plans to go beyond the domestic market?

I personally look after the finances and marketing aspects of the business. We started exporting this year. But, as from next year, we are getting more seriously into export activity. I think we shall be looking at Madagascar, Reunion Island and the Seychelles.

We have had some difficulties in entering these markets initially. We did not have sufficient knowledge of them and we did not have enough staff to send abroad to study them. Now I think this difficulty is over. We are now ready for the export business.