It’s a big jump from the historic mining town of Barberton to sitting across the room from Kim Kardashian. But taking big jumps is what renowned jewellery entrepreneur, Bheki Ngema, does best.
Ngema first grabbed the jewellery industry’s attention when he won the Shining Light Awards jewellery competition as a student in 2009. The Shining Light is a De Beers Group beneficiation programme to create opportunities for designers in its diamond producer partner countries, in partnership with Forevermark. Today, he runs one of South Africa’s first black-owned jewellery manufacturer and retailer, Ben & Co, which offers timeless and tailor-made jewellery to Africa and the world, and is a board member of the SA Jewellery Council.
Entrepreneurial sparkle from an early age
Ngema always had an eye for business that started developing early from working in in his parents’ business. It took his grandmother’s 60th birthday to spark his love of jewellery. She’d never got a wedding ring from her husband, so all her children chipped in money to buy a ring from a high street jeweller. Seeing the sheer joy that a piece of jewellery could bring set him on a road that’s taken him to the pinnacle of the South African jewellery industry.
Driven by an ambition to become the best designer in South Africa, he studied jewellery design and manufacturing at the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT). It was here that he won the Shining Lights competition with a ring that was inspired by a fishing trip he had taken with his father as a child.
The young Ngema paid his dues in the industry for a few years working as head of design for an established jewellery business. But in 2012, he took the plunge, and launched Ben & Co, a name created from the first letters of his own name, Bhekithemba Ernest Ngema. His first retail store, in the Menlyn Maine centre in Pretoria, followed in 2016, and his road to success seemed assured.
Then Covid-19 came along, and in his words, ‘everything became tough’. You can’t keep a good jeweller down for long, though. He relocated his store to Menlyn Shopping Centre, and business is booming.
Taking on an established industry
There were challenges along the way. “Perhaps the biggest challenge is breaking into an industry where you are competing with established multigenerational businesses, who have factories and stores. It takes time to build credibility and a customer base. You’re selling high end goods, and people have to get comfortable with your brand and what you are offering,” says Ngema.
One of the pillars of his journey has been De Beers, which stands out in the industry for its unwavering support of young designers and entrepreneurs. The company has been there at every major stage of his career: as a student, as a young black entrepreneur opening his own store, and now he’s closing the loop by being a judge in the very same competition that propelled him into the public eye all those years ago. He also manufactures the pieces that the students design, which plays an invaluable role in their learning process.
Mingling with the stars
And then, of course, there was the Kim Kardashian moment. Ngema was asked to be the face of a collaboration between De Beers and Forevermark, so his first-ever plane trip was to LA to do a series of jewellery launches. “It was a beautiful experience. We mingled with people I’d only ever seen on TV before, and met a whole lot of Hollywood stars. And I can tell you that Kim Kardashian is as gorgeous in real life as she is on TV!” he says.
“It opened my eyes to how the rest of the world understands jewellery. There, it’s part of their life, like wearing perfume. I want to build the same culture in South Africa.”
Pearls of wisdom
What would he say to the young Bheki? “Don’t do it!” he laughs. “No, I would say that you should be 100% passionate about what you do. It’s that passion that carries you through the dark times that nobody else sees, and brings you out on top again.”
