On one of her visits to Cairo, we met with up with the beautiful Jihan Alama. The wife of famous Lebanese singer Ragheb Alama, talked about her fruitful career, her family life and the challenges she is facing to maintain the success of her business during the pandemic time and her plans to expand her business potentially also her first presence Egypt.
Q: Being a wife and a mother, you are a very busy woman. How do u find the time to design, run a business, keep up with your family and your husband?
A: I try to organize my time. I am an organized person by nature, so I just put a target for the day. I know how to manage work and family. I like to give my family my full attention, so I would rather give quality time rather than spending a lot of time without being really with them. We manage to have lunches and dinners together every day. Even when my husband and me go out with our friends we take our sons with us.
Q: The jewellery market is a very competitive market. How do u stay ahead of the game and the competition?
A: I’m still trying to find my base in Dubai as I am still new there. But I believe everyone has his own slice of the cake, i.e. customers. I’ve been in this line of work for 16 years and I work so hard on my name, on my identity, and I think I have managed very well so far. That’s why I believe it is the time to expand. That is why I am here in Cairo where I already received many proposals to open here. Insha’Allah soon i might have my own place here. I think Egypt is a promising country with it’s leaders working well on it, and attracting more people. I hope our country Lebanon will follow.
Q: You have built your brand’s DNA, to make it recognizable. Who are your customers?
A: The most important thing is to keep customers coming back. When people hear that DJihan is exhibiting somewhere, you see customers again, and they start to remind you with pieces they bought from you, so that’s wonderful.
Q: What do you consider your best selling items?
A: We have too many different core collections. For example we have the “Unlock my Heart” collection. The story behind it is its connection to the emotions of the woman; daily emotions, when she is in love, she opens up the heart, when she is in a bad mood, when she is being disappointed, she closes up the heart and it turns into lock. So when her beloved one sees the locked heart, he knows she is not in a good mood. This is really a nice sign between lovers, like eye contact, but through jewellery. We have unisex collections and a special men’s line and we are always developing or reimaging pieces.
Q: Any international expansion plans?
A: Of course. Actually we were with Harvey Nichols in London, and because of Covid the plan has changed. So that’s why everyone is in a different direction now, because its the online time.
Q: How easy or difficult is it to sell expensive fine jewellery online ?
A: I think that jewelery should have an affordable price to sell well. High end jewelery online won’t move easily, because when you spend a lot of money you want to see, touch and feel it, try it. Because there are plenty of platforms, its not easy to sell, but if you have an iconic affordable piece and you are promoting it well , it should sell well.
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