Amarjeet Grewal, President of KORITE Ammolite, has a passion for the gemstone Ammolite found in Southern Alberta.
Grewal was born and raised in Calcutta, India and immigrated to Canada 36 years ago. She has a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Calcutta and after she moved to Calgary she took Business Administration and Accounting courses at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology.
Her dream when she was young was to go into accounting as a career.
“After I finished school, I did two summer jobs with my accounting background and came to KORITE just by fluke. Just applied for an accounting position. I had no idea what they sold. I did accounting for maybe less than a year, then a position opened for inventory manager and I said I didn’t know anything about gemstones. I know numbers, I know how to crunch numbers, but I don’t know anything about gemstones,” said Grewal.
She was told that the position was temporary.
“I’m always up for the challenge,” said Grewal. “I took that position and long story short, I never looked back. I fell in love with the gemstone. Fell in love with the story, fell in love with Canadian gemstone. I was embracing Canada at the time. I was four years in Canada at the time,” explained Grewal.
“I slowly literally built up myself from being inventory manager, inventory and production manager, started looking at the production, operations, a bit of sales, poked my nose into marketing. When I left in 2020 I was the Executive VP of the company.
“I was with KORITE for 30 years when I left in 2020. Three years ago I left KORITE and I was thinking I’m going to go do something different. I’ve been in this industry for 30 years and had my fair share. And now I’m going to go do something different, something outside the box. I got approached by many people, a lot of supporters within the industry and they would say, ‘you’re not thinking of moving away from this’. And I said, ‘I’m not sure what I want to do’. I came back, started my own company, same concept.
“KORITE is mine to the market. And what I started with my business was obviously I didn’t want it to go into the mining. So I was sourcing from the ethical sources. Same concept, but sourcing versus mine to the market.”
That company was Iniskim Ammolite. She returned to KORITE as President recently after Buffalo Rock Mining bought the company from receivership.
Grewal said her mother is her rock, a pillar of hers all her life. She personally believes there’s a myth that in India they tell you what to be – a doctor, an engineer or an accountant. But her mother always told Grewal to follow her passion and do what she wanted to do.
“That’s exactly what I’ve instilled in my kids,” she added. “I tell them to do something that when you wake up in the morning it’s something you want to do.
“I have followed that mantra for myself. My kids have followed that. My mom was a big advocate of that. One thing my mom did was instil in me and the biggest believer is that a woman should be financially independent no matter what. And I’m talking like my mom. I’m 56. My mom told me that 56 years ago. So back then my mom was very independent herself.”
Being passionate, confident and self-motivated are traits she learned from her mother.
“I love gemstones. Who doesn’t? Ammolite for me, it’s such a beautiful gemstone and more than the gemstone. I mean, absolutely, it’s beautiful. I think the story behind it. That’s what I fall in love with.
“I constantly ask myself why Ammolite?. . . . How many gemstones are there in Canada that we can call Canadian gemstones? Ammolite is the official gemstone of Alberta. That’s amazing, but that’s not where I want to stop. I want Ammolite to be the official gemstone of Canada one day. That’s my vision. That’s my dream. A lot of people ask me, ‘so you started your own business why come back to KORITE again?’ An amazing opportunity opened with Buffalo Rock Mining buying the assets of the company.
“I thought what an amazing opportunity to bring the status of Ammolite which has always been my mission and my passion on a bigger, global scale. I became a co-owner, partner with Buffalo Rock Mining right now.
“I still think there’s not enough awareness about Ammolite. Numbers will come and go. Revenues will come and go. We are literally building this KORITE today from scratch. It did go through a financial challenge. Buffalo Rock Mining didn’t buy KORITE so-called. They bought the assets of it and the new name of the company is KORITE Ammolite Limited. It will be challenging but it will be a fun challenge because I love challenge.”
She still owns the other company but it is on pause for now.
Her style of leadership is very inclusive.
“I believe in emotional intelligence. That’s where I pride myself in because the number one rule for me is to be kind. And kindness can be taken in a number of different ways. From a leadership perspective, to be an empathetic leader. That’s huge for me,” explained Grewal.
“I think you build better companies, you build better collaborations, you build better teams and all that is so important to bring the growth. I like to crawl before I start running and I think that’s where KORITE is today. I’m very impatient short term but very patient long-term, meaning I know where I need to take KORITE. Can I take it overnight? Absolutely not.
“It will take some time to rebuild the brand, rejuvenate the brand. From that perspective, I think it’s going to take some time but like I said I have a lot of patience for the long term.
“It’s a full circle coming to me because Ammolite comes from Indigenous land. That story of a Canadian gemstone coming from Indigenous land and creating that brand with that inclusivity, that diversification, I bring that not only to the story of Ammolite but I bring that to my leadership too. When I’m sitting at a boardroom table, I don’t want to be the person who just says ‘hey this is the way we’re going to run this’. It’s very inclusive, especially from people who have come along with us and they have gone through those financial difficulties for the last three years. They understand the pains of it. They have suffered. What didn’t work, let’s talk about it. We’re going to talk about it to see what we know today that we shouldn’t do going forward.
“I believe everyone should have a voice at the table. I’m a big believer of that . . . To me a brand is a culture and that’s where I want bring KORITE too. When I wear my Ammolite, I feel confident, I feel bold. That’s the message I want to bring about KORITE Ammolite. It’s not about just a gemstone. It’s how you feel when you wear this piece of jewelry that’s you’re so proud of. I want the KORITE brand to be at a level where you feel confident. I can’t say this enough about how proud I am that it comes from an ethical source and sustainable source. And to wear that piece of jewelry is like a full circle. Yes it’s beautiful but it’s how it makes me feel when I’m wearing it.”
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