Believing that empowering women is empowering the world, Sonali Sanjit Nagvenkar strives for the betterment of all, while running her co-owned gold & diamond showroom in Panaji, Shree Sainath Jewellers
Photo by Narayan Pissurlenkar
An experienced diamond grader, running her showroom in Panaji with her husband Sanjit Nagvenkar, Sonali Nagvenkar wears multiple hats and shoulders different responsibilities. A mother to two children, she balances her life between home, business and social work. A commerce graduate who did MBA in Marketing from Newport University, Sonali’s thesis was on ‘Export potential of gems and jewellery in Indian Market’. Not stopping at this she did her LLB from Kare College of Law before taking diploma in International Airline and Travel Management from Trade Wings. She also has diploma in Diamond Grading from Mumbai, Shreeji Institute, diploma in Coral Draw from Manipal Institute of Computer Education, Jewel Cad from I Cad Institute Mumbai. But that’s not all – Sonali has also completed Madhyama in Classical Singing from Akhil Bharatiya Gandharva Mahavidyalay Mandal, Mumbai.
“I practiced law under additional solicitor general in the Supreme Court of India, Adv Atmaram Nadkarni for two years till 2000 and under Adv Damodar Dhond for another two years till 2003. Then I co-started our own gold diamond jewellery showroom Shree Sainath Jewellers in Panaji in 2006 which is co-owned by my husband Sanjit Nagvenkar and we both are running it till date,” explains Sonali who has been on the core women’s wing committee of Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) for the past nine years.
With diverse passions like singing, driving and reading, Sonali also talks on POSH, offers counselling to women-in-distress and children from underprivileged society. She likes to work for prevention against cruelty towards animals too. Fluent in Konkani, English, Hindi and Marathi, she understands Punjabi, Gujarati and Portuguese too.
Socially, politically active Sonali is a member of various economic bodies in the State, she was the coral member of GGCCL (Core committee member of women’s wing of GCCI from 2017 to 2021 and, former BNI member of Elegance Goa holding leadership role in 2017-18. She is also a member of Goa Amhi Udyogini and treasurer of Goa State Executive BJP Mahila Morcha and also of Rotary Club of Miramar. This former advisor of Censor Board of Films Division carries on her role as a social worker at ‘One Stop Crises Centre of Women and Child Development’, conducting programmes on women entrepreneurships, skill development for youth and women, giving talks on women entrepreneurs in Goa, and sharing the success story of her business.
Sona (gold) is in her name itself and when asked Sonali smiles, “I don’t know if it was a coincidence, but when I was born my father, late Krishna Walke, a medical representative then, was planning to start a jewellery business along with my mother Krishni Walke and maybe they were inspired to name me Sonali. And yes, they did start a jewellery business in Vasco few years later.”
While Sonali’s father Krishna had his jewellery store in Vasco, her mother Krishni started her showroom in Margao – ‘Krishni Jewellers’ in 1990 and Sonali supported in starting this venture and dealt with clients. This is how Sonali’s journey into jewellery business was initiated while she was graduating in commerce. Later she did LLB and MBA. During her final year project she chose ‘Export potentials of Gems and Jewellery in Indian Market’ as her subject under late Prof Gopal Krishna Kamat, ex-professor of Bajaj Institute of Management Studies. “The knowledge I earned then helped me in my jewellery business,” admits Sonali.
After her LLB she got married and practised law for few years until she and her husband started a new jewellery store. “Sanjit was into this business along with his father at Sainath jewellers in Panaji. The business was established in 1979. In 2006 Sanjit and I started Shree Sainath Jewellers in Panaji. I handled the diamond jewellery section as a certified diamond grader. I also have done a professional course in Jewel CAD for jewellery designing,” explains Sonali who offers consultancy to her clients in diamond grading.
Speaking about the bullion business, Sonali admits that the competition has been strong in the past decade. But competition makes one stronger, compels to think innovatively and also to improvise, she believes. “People trust quality, comfort and innovation, so they come to us for the latest designs, made-to-order traditional ornaments, certified diamond jewellery, silver articles and to seek advice on gold investment. Families come to us for generations. Some come from abroad specially to make ornaments and we have a large foreign clientele,” shares Sonali.
“Local goldsmiths are facing issues with handcrafted ornaments due to heavy making charges as it takes a lot of time for the artisans to make them and also more gold is being used, compared to machine made items which have less making charges and are light weight,” she shares.
Pointing out to a serious situation in handcrafted arts Sonali quips, “Yes, like karigars (artisans) all over the world – be it any handicraft, weavers or jewellery artisans, machine-made items are killing their industry. Only those who know the value of handcrafted objects value it. It's priced high due to the time and effort taken to sculpt or make the item. Due to lesser demand many second generation of these artisans are not taking up this vocation and moving to white collared jobs. There is a great need to protect and revive many arts and artists who are on the verge of extinction. Like in Goa there are hardly any artisan left who do the typical filigree on the ornament. Sadly, such art is now literally going extinct.”
Artisans from West Bengal are very talented and ready to work in any condition at any place and at a cost cheaper than the local Goan artisans according to her. “We have always promoted and employed only local artisans for our jewellery unit, but along with locals we also have demand for diamond jewellery, Kolkata jewellery and other types of fancy jewellery where these artisans from west Bengal are experts and we have to depend on them for these orders,” she admits.
She points out that when there is competition there is definitely an impact. Big players come with big money and investment is difficult for small players who get crushed. Government intervention is needed to support small businesses. “As for competition, if you trust yourself, adapt to changes and know the needs of customers then nothing can stop you. You need to have something unique to make you stand out in your business,” she asserts.
