Malabar Gold and Diamonds has plans to invest Rs 9,860 crores in India, and claims that it will create about 11,000 jobs across the country and in other locations that it is expanding to, in the next three years.
Talking to HRKatha, Jacob Jacob, group CHRO, Malabar Group, shares that the Company is looking to expand in the US, Canada and the Middle East.
The Group — which currently operates over 280 retail stores across more than 10 countries, and 14 manufacturing units in five nations — plans to add another 500 stores, by 2025.
“Our goal is to bring more and more jewellery buyers to India, in line with our initiative, ‘Make in India, Market to the World’. We also aim to generate employment for people across regions,” states MP Ahammed, chairman, Malabar Group, on the development.
“Our goal is to bring more and more jewellery buyers to India, in line with our initiative, ‘Make in India, Market to the World’. We also aim to generate employment for people across regions”
MP Ahammed, chairman, Malabar Group
As per Jacob, the Company will add manpower in three areas — the retail stores, the shop floor and the supply chain. Since the Company wishes to double the manufacturing capacity, it will need to add more kaarigars at the shop floor and will require more people in the supply chain system as well. However, “most of the hiring will be done at the stores,” admits Jacob.
Jacob reveals exclusively to HRKatha that on an average, about 3500 people will be hired every year, till 2025. Of these, 2000 will be hired at the new showrooms alone.
Sales representatives and executives will be picked for the retail stores through various means and sources, including walk-in interviews and campus hiring.
“These freshers will undergo a six-month training programme, wherein they will be trained in soft skills with a focus on ways to serve customers with a ‘customer first’ outlook. Learning agility will be yet another aspect on which these new hires will be evaluated,” reveals Jacob.
For managerial and leadership roles at the stores, the Company will hire management trainees from campuses, who will then go through a management- training programme to help them hone various soft skills and leadership skills required to run a store.
The new hires will be onboarded and assigned to the showrooms after going through three levels of interviews and evaluation.
Of the 3500 people who will be hired in a year, 700-800 will be kaarigars with specialised skills that are critical to the Company. To maintain a healthy pipeline of this talent, the Company has maintained relations with the kaarigar community.
“These kaarigars generally come from West Bangal, and since these skills are passed down through generations, one kaarigar brings other kaarigars with him,” says Jacob. While some of these kaarigars will be hired on the Company’s payroll, others will work on a freelance basis.
“The element of career progression will be quite an attraction as people can expect to take leadership positions at the headquarters”
Jacob Jacob, group CHRO, Malabar Group
Given Malabar’s massive expansion plans in the coming three years, the Company will also require to fill certain leadership positions. “We are even open to working with people from outside the industry,” declares Jacob. Though the exact number of leadership positions to be filled in the coming years has yet to be revealed, Jacob is certain that the Group “will require regional heads to manage various operations and businesses,” mentions Jacob.
Jacob shares that about 100 stores will be opened in a year. Of these, about 50 stores will be inaugurated in India and the rest in foreign locations.
Considering the war for talent across industries, Malabar hopes to attract quality talent with an assurance of career progression in the company and a robust culture of growth. “The element of career progression will be quite an attraction as people can expect to take leadership positions at the headquarters,” asserts Jacob.