20 Most Powerful Women of Watch and Jewellery Industry: Keeping tab on the movements

In this issue of Arabian Watches and Jewellery (AWJ) magazine and newsletter, we bring you the 20 most influential women of the watch and jewellery industry. These top achievers have been instrumental in reshaping the industry and bringing innovation and creativity to products. These women design and produce products of all ranges and for every community and run multi-billion dollar conglomerates.

 

This report by AWJ magazine and newsletter also shares female entrepreneurs, designers and owners’ professional experiences and also offers a peek into their personal lives.

Be it designing new products, governing corporations or creating brands, women such as Nayla Hayek, Jasmine Audemars, Fabienne Lupo, Caroline Scheufele, Maria Gaspari and their peers have made their mark on the industry. They strongly believe that watches and jewellery – the latter in particular – is a woman’s domain and men are intruders. 

As a matter of fact, the watch and jewellery sector has been male dominated for centuries but in the last century women felt the need to design watches and jewellery for themselves and began challenging men. Now they design and produce watches and jewellery for both genders.

People in the industry believe that the role of women was overlooked and disregarded by the industry. Not just their role, even the consumer target remained mostly the affluent-men. Today most of the brands eye female clientele of every class. With competition comes diversification. The industry currently launches products targeted at customers of all ranges.

Today each and every watch and jewellery product range is launched keeping in view the demand and preferences of female consumers as they make up a decently large chunk of the $50 billion (Dh183.5 billion) industry.

Business acumen

These influential leaders also command a decent share of the top echelons of the corporate world across the globe, demonstrating their business acumen in running conglomerates and small and medium enterprises. They have been successfully running multi-billion dollar companies across the globe.

 

For instance, Nayla Hayek is currently the Chairwoman of Swiss giant Swatch Group which boasts annual sales of $10 billion; Jasmine Audemars is the Chairwoman of Audemars Piguet with revenues of approximately $600 million; Fabienne Lupo is Chairwoman and Managing Director of Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie and Marinette Haldemann is Executive Vice-President Marketing at Carl F Bucherer to name a few; they work shoulder-to-shoulder with their male counter parts.

Nayla Hayek has played a vital role in the growth of the company ever since she took the reins of the company in 2010. Under her leadership, the company took over Harry Winston Inc. in 2013 and she was named Chief Executive Officer. She was very close to her late father Nicolas George Hayek – who was known as the “Father of Swiss Watches.”

Caroline Scheufele, Co-President of Chopard, is another female leader who has been a dominant figure of the industry. She believes that there are still some challenges for the women to grow professionally but they are starting to change now.

Highly educated and artistic, Hind Seddiqi of Ahmed Seddiqi is also an icon in the industry. She has achieved a Bachelor’s Degree from the School of Arts and Science and a Mass Communications with Public Relations Concentration from the American University of Sharjah. Prior to joining the family business, she worked for an International public relations company.

Donning multiple hats

Playing the dual role, these 20 most influential women of the watch and jewellery industry have been decision-makers at the Board of Directors and also home-makers at the same time. But it still never tires them.

These women also don multiple hats. For instance, Nayla Hayek, who has great passion for horses, is President of the Conference of Arab Horse Organisations, Member of World Arabian Horse Organisation and Chairwoman of the Swiss Cooperative of Arabian Horse Breeders.

Similarly, Jasmine Audemars, Chairwoman of the Audemars Piguet, also heads its Foundation. Created by her father, Jasmine has been donning the hat of Foundation’s president since 1996 to support conservation of forests all over the world and to raise environmental protection awareness amongst children.

Not only socially and professionally, these women entrepreneurs are equally active, allocating time for their families and hobbies.

Dr. Nayla Hayek joined Swatch Group in 1995 and became its Chairwoman in 2010 after the death of her father Nicolas George Hayek. She was also named Chief Executive Officer of Harry Winston Inc. in 2013 after Swatch Group took over the company. A world-renowned figure, Dr. Nayla is ranked among the most influential and powerful women in the Arab world and also a leading light of the global luxury goods industry. Under her leadership, the Switzerland-based Swatch Group has grown leaps and bounds. 

Since a very young age, Caroline Scheufele, Co-President, Chopard, has been passionate about drawing and precious stones. Caroline joined Chopard in 1979, today Caroline is responsible for the Creation and Design Department.

Caroline’s favourite jewellery is her first creation the Happy Diamonds Clown pendant but she wears everyday her Haute Joaillerie Tourbillon.  During free time, she likes to be home to spend time on gardening, and playing with her eight dogs.

Jasmine Audemars, President of the Audemars Piguet Board of Directors and of the Audemars Piguet Foundation, is the great-granddaughter of Jules Louis Audemars.

She studied Economics and the History of Economics in Lausanne and Geneva. She succeeded her father as head of the Board of Directors of Audemars Piguet, on which she had sat since 1987. In 1996, she also became President of the Audemars Piguet Foundation created by her father in 1992 to support the conservation of forests all over the world and to raise environmental protection awareness amongst children. To date, the Foundation has financed more than 75 projects, including some 30 in the country. 

She started watchmaking at the age of 16 and travelled from Paris to Switzerland to attend watchmaking school and later achieved an engineering degree.

Carole joined Cartier 12 years ago, now she’s in-charge of all movements at Cartier and is developing catalogues of movements. She led teams who developed movements for several brands. Carole also has a big collection of clocks. Carole spends her free time with her family. 

Born in France, Fabienne Lupo began her career in marketing cosmetics (L'Oréal) and perfume (Givenchy) before joining SECODIP. In 1994, she became Commissioner for the Marseilles International Fair (SAFIM), following which she was appointed General Secretary of the Comité International de la Haute Horlogerie in Geneva, with responsibility for the independent organisation of the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH). Since 2005, she has been Managing Director of the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie (FHH) and in November 2010 she was also appointed its Chairwoman.  

One of her major achievements was participation in the creation of the FHH in 2005 and the role in convincing independent Maisons, as well as others belonging to Groups, to join the FHH for the promotion of Fine Watchmaking around the world. 

Azza gave up her career in a government organisation and decided to follow her passion for jewellery design inspired by a German book “European Traditional Jewellery of the Middle Ages”. After a scholarship with the British Council in the UK, she returned to Egypt and opened a small workshop before opening her first store in 1981. She likes meditating, travelling and experiencing different cultures. 

Maria Gaspari has long been a byword for quality, refinement and exclusivity in the jewellery industry. 

She says jewellery business has been in the family since the 19th century. She likes to have a very personal involvement in every piece she makes. She studies each one to make sure it is up to the standards. She believes that she was born to create jewellery.

Dina Shirazi joined her family business Bahrain Jewellery Centre (BJC) in 1992 after finishing her higher education in Geneva. She graduated from Webster University in Marketing & Management, and Mastered in Political Science.  Currently a Director at BJC, Dina oversees day to day management of the company’s jewellery business. She was instrumental to promote and develop a unique brand identity for the company comprising logotype, packaging and store design. 

She enjoys writing, travel, and exercise. 

Hind Seddiqi of Ahmed Seddiqi achieved Bachelor’s Degree from School of Arts And Science and Mass Communications with Public Relations Concentration from the American University of Sharjah. Prior to joining the family business, she worked for an International public relations company. She was instrumental in establishing the company’s Marketing Department in 2006 and streamlined all marketing activities. She was also Member of the Executive Committee that looked into all business aspects of the family business.

Mahra Seddiqi of Ahmed Seddiqi joined the organisation 15 years ago. Since then she has been involved with the high-end jewellery brands. 

Mahra had a very clear vision on how to develop the luxury jewellery brands in Dubai from the very beginning. The day she committed herself to the organisation, she became instrumental in creating awareness among clients for high-end luxury brands – be it a timepiece or a jewellery piece.

Marinette Haldemann is the Executive Vice-President of Marketing for Carl F. Bucherer. She started off in the watch industry as a Trade Marketing Manager over a decade ago for a brand which at the time had more than 7,000 point of sales. 

Prior to that she lived and worked in South East Asia for 10 years, and also owned at one point a tiny silver jewellery store in Singapore. Enterprising is always close to her heart and drives everything that she does. In her free time, Marinette loves to go up to the mountains and enjoy unspoilt nature. 

Elyana Jaffar: Carving a niche for Asia Jewellers

Elyana Jaffar joined Asia Jewellers in 2000 after completing her studies.

Currently a Director, both the company and Elyana have endeavoured towards establishing Asia Jewellers a stronger brand and expanding its horizons locally and internationally. Elyana believes Asia Jewellers will be a force to be reckoned with in the year 2014 because her goal is to make its name known and loved worldwide. During her free time, Elyana likes to travel, swim and read. Her first Cartier piece was a Pasha de Cartier watch gifted to her for her graduation.

Mayyan Jaffar: The soul of modern jewellery

Mayyan Jaffar, a Member at the Board of Directors of Asia Jewellers, boasts two majors in HRD and psychology from Geneva. She believes women have a primary role as a wife or mother and having a career at the same time is very challenging. She loves soul searching. “I'm always eager to see the beauty in everything hence my contentment. People don't realise that happiness comes from the contentment of the soul not what you’re surrounded by,” she says.

Asma Bennani, GM of Mansour Jewellers, started the company from scratch in 1983 in UAE. She is a pioneer in financing and investing in plastic watches with diamonds. Asma has her own big collection of watches – especially of Jaeger-LeCoultre. She has been collecting Jaeger-LeCoultre since 1986 when she started with them. Almost half of her collection is the masterpieces of Jaeger-LeCoultre. 

Asma manages to spare time for leisure only in the summer. “My family is my leisure. When I have time I’m with them.” 

Noor Alfardan had fascination for the jewellery industry since she was six; her love and passion developed for jewellery after her father used to take her to exhibitions and let her sit in meetings with the jewellers. Mrs Noor has been designing jewellery since she was a child. She said splitting time between family and work has been a lot more tricky”, recently I gave birth to twin boys in October 2013. A typical day for me starts at 7am and finishes at around 11:30-12. I basically work whenever the boys are asleep!”

Amna Bin Hendi: Setting a precedent 

After graduating from Zayed University with a Bachelor’s in Business Administration and Information Technology, Amna Bin Hendi joined the family business. She initially worked with every division to understand how the different support systems function. 

On a personal note, she loves to travel, re-decorate her house, shop and spend time with family. “I always say that behind every successful woman is the backing of a supportive father and husband.” Amna believes women can professionally do a job as well as a man but it’s going to take some time for women to set an example. 

A self-made businesswoman, Daniela Ufken has been the distributor of Philip Stein since 2004 and co-owner of the jewellery boutique Precious Jewels in Dubai Mall. 

At the age of 14, she started her own company. She played a vital role in the development of a number of reputed brands such as Cleopatra Srl, Gioielmoda Snc (Italy), Pasquale Bruni Spa, Etoile Incentives Srl, Precious Times DMCC and Precious Jewels. Daniela loves nature and silent places.

Audrey Tcherkoff has worked up the ranks of jewellery house Robert Wan where she’s the CEO for the Middle East. Audrey says that the project she is most proud of is the creation of Qatar Pearl Legacy which is a joint-venture opened in 2012 after five long years of hard work. 2014 is a turning point for Robert Wan in the Middle East as the firm is strengthening its distribution network and is on the verge to announce the program. 

 

Lama Hourani is a jewellery designer, art addict and an architecture enthusiast. She studied Fine Arts and speaks five languages; she loves travel, art and creation. 

She’s adorned some of the world’s most influential women and her work has been exhibited in the most important museums and sold in Europe, US, the Middle East and soon in Asia-Pacific.

She was recently honoured as a global leader for 2012 by the World Economic Forum for her achievements and contribution to society and won the best innovative Design Award under the Young Arab Designers category by The Middle East Watches, Jewellery & Pens Awards. 

 

A jewellery designer, brand owner and charity supporter through art, Kholoud Kurdi studied gems and became a graduate gemmologist, diamond grader, coloured stones grader and an accredited jewellery professional.

She also worked as the Development Manager of the Diamond Exchange for three years but later decided to go back to her passion for design and art creations. She received many awards such as Jewellery Woman of the Year by the Arab Woman Awards, The Most Stylish Arab Woman by the L’Officiel Awards, The Dubai Hot 100 2013 & 2014.