Ever since the outbreak of Covid-19, investors worldwide have turned to transfer part of their assets into gold investment to avoid market uncertainties and take advantage of gold’s reliable store of value. Investors have always cited gold as a safe haven when market uncertainties intensify, and the events in 2020 further confirmed the established correlation between gold and market risk levels.

Since January 2020, the gold price has zipped up 25% by the end of the year, even hitting a record high of over $2,000 per ounce at one point for the first time in history.

Along with the growth of demand for gold-related investments, supply grows too. A Dubai-based precious metal supplier known as Motiwala caught sight of the growth in demand and is determined to make use of this opportunity to become a world leader in the precious metal industry.

How Motiwala accumulated sand grain into mountain

Motiwala Jewellers LLC is a certified precious metal refinery, gold processor, bullion manufacturer, and precious metal supplier based in Dubai. Renowned for its complete and diversified rare metal business network, Motiwala Jewellers is one of the top 5 gold merchants globally and one of the largest refineries in the Middle East region.

But Rome wasn’t built in a day. It takes a lot of passion and hard work to build such a spectacular precious metal empire. Its founder, Iqbal Bhai from Pakistan, founded Motiwala 40 years ago and has been in the gold industry since then. He started as a gold and jewellery wholesaler in his home country and later found success when he filed a patent for the international gold market fair in Dubai after discovering its undeveloped gold market.

Through several decades of development, Motiwala Jewellers established subsidiary companies to further diversify the range of services it provides and as an effort to complete its supply chain. It is now the holding company of Motiwala Gold Trading, Motiwala Gold & Precious Stone Industry, Motiwala Gold & Metal Laboratory, Shaheen Exchange.

Since then, the company’s businesses have expanded to cover gold mining, processing, jewellery design, jewellery retail stores, physical gold trading, gold and metal laboratories, precious stones & diamond retail stores, and currency exchange.

With its refinery and an ISO 17025 certified in-house laboratory, Motiwala can produce gold bullion at the finest quality and allow investors to purchase gold bars ranging from 1 gram to 100 grams in size at a competitive price in its physical stores, thus allowing all investors to start investing in gold regardless of their capital size.

Southeast Asia has bright future as a digital gold haven

The gold market in Asia, Southeast Asia in particular, are underdeveloped, but experts are confident that Southeast Asia has a bright future as a digital gold haven in the near future as Southeast Asia has one of the fastest rates of digital payment adoption and more than 400 million internet users. The strong tech foundations were laid by the appealing regulatory landscape and strong government support that has escalated growth of innovation and healthy competition in this region.

In response to the year-long pandemic crisis, part of the gold and jewellery retailers in Asia are moving their retail businesses onto the internet to reach online consumers and combat the highly contagious virus simultaneously. With robust governance and regulations, digital gold has been gaining much traction in the Southeast Asia market.

Tapping into Southeast Asia’s growing digital gold landscape

Envisioned to become the world leader for dealers and traders from across the globe and to achieve sustainable quality growth, Motiwala co-founded Moti Investment Capital (MIC) in 2018 to expand its global presence in the capital trading sector. The establishment of MIC will enable investors to achieve low-risk, sustainable returns using Motiwala’s unique set of gold supply chain.

As the first step to globalize its operation, Motiwala has tapped into Southeast Asian countries, providing a wide array of services to the new countries, including asset management, physical gold trading and more. With Motiwala’s supply chain and diverse line of services, it will allow investors to purchase physical gold even if the investors are located outside of Dubai.

In 2018, member countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) had consumed 309 tonnes of gold, making Southeast Asia the third-largest market for gold in the world. With the combination of rapid digital adoption, the cultural importance of gold in the region, and low expansion costs, it makes Southeast Asia an ideal region as the first step in Motiwala’s globalization.

MOTIWALA announces partnership with BIS

Motiwala has recently announced its partnership with BIS to expand its global presence. BIS is an international financial institution owned by central banks that "fosters international monetary and financial cooperation and serves as a bank for central banks".

“We are excited to partner with BIS” said Iqbal Bhai, Founder of Motiwala group. “Through this strategic partnership, Motiwala and BIS can form a clear win-win relationship to provide more value to your existing customers. It would also bolster the long-term partnership between Motiwala and BIS as both firms continue to seek opportunities to achieve business expansion.”