The brothers Ozel, Daniel and Jak, are celebrating a successful year of growth for their distribution business, Unique Jewelry, despite tough economic conditions.
The siblings’ belief in European watch giant Festina Group, which this year announced movie tough guy Gerard Butler as its new brand ambassador, has seemingly paid off, with Unique achieving 18% growth in the UK with Festina alone, also having managed success with its Lotus brand as well as introducing the group’s latest proposition, Calypso.
Daniel identifies Festina Group founder Miguel Rodriguez as his own hero in business, saying: “He started the business from scratch, without money and achieved a lot. He doesn’t even speak good English, but managed to established an international watch company which is active in over 100 countries.”
While the brother express themselves differently, it is clear they both reach the same conclusion eventually. While Daniel describes his greatest personal achievement as: “Starting this business from scratch and building it over the time,” Jak answers the same question thus: “Being able to work with my brother Daniel for almost two decades”.
Of the two, Jak is certainly the more forthright brother, describing himself as “adventurous, optimistic and passionate” in the early days of Unique, something Daniel acknowledges when he says: “I would prefer not to be so shy and more aggressive in business and a better networker.” But the pair form a cohesive and formidable whole, supplementing each others’ strengths and both, now older and wiser, focus more on patience and honesty as prime virtues.
They both agree on what direction they are headed in the future, with online sales and marketing playing an increasingly important role in their business and brands; investment in technology and social media strategy is likely to pay dividends for the brothers Ozel.
