FROM its beginning the Jayam company became the base of a group of companies which today has worldwide links with all the centers where diamonds are manufactured and traded. The group has offices in Antwerp, Bombay, New York and Tel Aviv, and has trading links and connections in all the other diamond locations.

It has achieved this development and growth because of the determination and ambition of Mafatlal Mehta, and the total dedication of his sons, Jitu, Madhu, Ashwin, Nanu, and lately through the entry into the family business of his grandson, Samir.

Mafatlal Mehta was born in 1917 in Palanpur, a village in the state of Gujarat: a village in an India still firmly under British rule, and one from which many of the leading Indian diamantaires have come. He had no formal education, but at the age of 16 joined his elder brother in Bombay to help keep alive the family business there. There was no choice. "My father died when I was five. I had little education, and all I knew was diamonds."

The young Mafatlal, thrust straight into the thick of the business, turned his hand to everything - book-keeping, stock control, sorting and selling. The firm, then named Mohanlal Raichand, dealt mainly in small goods, some from the local Panna mine, and some from the Antwerp market. "My brother would journey to Antwerp to buy both rough and polished, and he left me to keep everything going in the business. It was a question of learning very rapidly".

His brother's absences in Europe were lengthy: the journey by ship from Bombay to Genoa or Antwerp was a matter of weeks, so that Mafatlal was left with full responsibility for a growing business. He rose to the challenge, and in a short time was able to run the operation on his own despite his tender years.

PHILOSOPHY

His own philosophy and approach, applied later to his own sons, comes in his comment that "in this business, if anyone is to learn then he learns in the first two years; if he doesn't then even if he is hard working and stays 50 years he will not succeed."

His brother died in 1939, and Mafatlal, at the age of 22, joined by two nephews, took command of the business. Despite the difficulties in communication, trade and travel, and the closing of the traditional patterns of supply occasioned by the second world war, the business was able to meet its challenges, and grew into one of the important Indian diamond operations.

In 1955 Mafatlal decided to form his own company in Bombay. His son, Jitu, had joined him, and they set up Jitendra Bros there. Hard work, determination, seizing opportunities as they arose they prospered, and within four years they set up a new home and a new business, Jayam PVBA, in Antwerp. He was still in his thirties but with 26 years of experience behind him, Mafatlal Mehta - the village boy from Palanpur was about to embark on the course that would transform his business interests into a major international concern and him into a world-class diamantaire.

"You need to know many things to be successful in diamonds," comments Mafatlal with an english understatement. "A great deal of personal attention is required. So if you are to go international, it helps to have your family in the business."

Within two years father and eldest son were joined by the ebullient Madhu. Both the business, Jayam, and the family were now firmly established in Belgium with offices in the Hoveniersstraat and a large, comfortable home on the outskirts of Antwerp.

Their reputation in the diamond world had become established with the main thrust of their operations in smaller goods, and with the company being one of the principal suppliers to the rapidly developing industry in India.

To assist this development, and to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the openings in India, they established Samir Diamonds in Bombay in 1962. This company was run by the two younger sons, Ashwin and Nanu, and thus formed the basis of the family business.

The name and reputation of the family had grown "wherever we have worked we have been accepted by the business community, by the banks, by the people. "They became pillars of the diamond communities in Antwerp and in Bombay. Mafatlal, patriarch of his family and also his business, had become a patriarch in the two diamond centers: age, experience and success had won acceptance and respect.

He had been much influenced in his beliefs and actions by the teaching and example of his mother. From her he developed a profound sense of duty towards others - family, neighbors, business partners, clients and community. "She was very strict in my upbringing - and in religious observance (they are Jains). She taught me never to underestimate other people, never to try to exploit their weaknesses but to discover their strengths so you can learn from them. Never take revenge, remain amicable, and you will not be resented."

This same dedication to the needs of others, the sense that success carried with it obligations to help those less fortunate, was influenced strongly by his contact and work with Mother Teresa of Calcutta. He quietly acknowledges her influence, her guidance and how she has enabled his charitable ambitions to be translated into effective and practical help.

Soon after their first meeting Mother Teresa came to stay in the Mehta residence in Antwerp. She was impressed with his approach and soon afterwards appointed him head of the Mother Teresa Belgian Charitable Trust. "She gave me so many ideas. Working with her I founded charitable trusts both here and in India. We have a home for over 500 girls in Bombay, where we can educate them and give them jobs. But we go about it in a very commercial way, just like a business. I have made sure it will all keep functioning long after I've gone."

Back in the diamond business the four sons were active in extending the Jayam empire. In 1975 Jitu opened the New York office under the name of Paras Diamonds - an operation that soon became the largest seller of Indian diamonds in the US market.

During this period of growth and development, Mafatlal Mehta decided that the future of its group of companies and of the business depended on close co-operation with the CSO. What had become one of the leading dealing and later important manufacturing operations could succeed only if it could assure its continued and reliable supplies of rough diamonds. It became for him a conscious aim to create and develop a mutually advantageous relationship with the CSO.

"We need them, and we hope that they need us," became an objective to which he and his sons firmly subscribed. The mutual needs of the two organizations recognized the desirability and advantage of co-operation, and today that co-operation has proved itself.

Mafatlal's respect for Monty Charles and the other CSO executives and members of the Sales Department is firmly reciprocated, and was symbolized by the presence at the Jayam 25th anniversary celebrations of Nicky Oppenheimer, Monty Charles, Teddie Dawe, Alex Barbour, Tim Capon, George Bume, Michael Grantham, Nigel Wisden, Rory More O'Ferrall and other representatives.

The event also provided the opportunity for Nicky Oppenheimer, in his speech, to draw attention to the fact that the CSO recognizes the need for its clients to be satisfied with their working arrangements with his Organization, and to make profit from the businesses they purchase.

Mafatlal Mehta and his sons recognize that the relationship with the CSO has been good: protective of their own operations in Belgium, Bombay and New York, profitable and satisfying in that they have been able, to create understanding at all levels within the CSO, of problems that exist in the industry, to influence solutions to those problems.

In 1978 Jayam completed a new manufacturing unit in Belgium. The official opening was attended by many leading figures from the Belgian Government, the Belgian Provincial Government, from the banks, the trade and the CSO. Above the main factory entrance appear the words "One hand open in charity is worth one hundred folded in prayer". A permanent reminder, visible here and in many other fields, of Mafatlal Mehta's deeply-held beliefs.

They also represent his activities today. He could never consider complete retirement from the business. "I come to Jayam every day," he says, "but I don't interfere in the general running, although my sons come to me for advice and we have meetings in Bombay to review plans."

He has consciously delegated to his sons the responsibilities for the day-to-day running of the various companies. They are in charge. He is available to them at any time should they need him - very much the patriarch, the head of the family. He is devoted to his family, proud of them, watches over them - but they lead their own lives, make their own decisions, make their own mistakes. He has time for the work he has sought for himself: Mother Teresa, famine relief in Africa, Asia and elsewhere, help for the under-privileged and the hungry wherever they may be. He finds satisfaction in this, as he found satisfaction in heading a remarkable business Organization.

Both his work today and his business Organization reflect the aims and values of Mafatlal Mehta. They are built in his image: a man of vision, determination, courage and hard work. A man with a sense of dedication. A man who can smile at himself and at others, a man of warmth and understanding, and a man who cares deeply for his fellow man.