Experience is certainly at the core of any successful business venture. Theories can be learned at business schools yet nothing compares   to “getting your feet wet: living the challenges and realities of an industry on a daily basis.

Moniruz  Zaman had the opportunity to do just that and he embraced it. He started learning about the bullion business at an early age with his elder brother, Baduiz Zaman, who was considered one of Singapore’s most respected and biggest bullion dealers. With the company’s expansion, Moniruz Zaman was able to apply that knowledge in places such as Dubai, London and New York “Whenever my brother’s company expanded. I had a new opportunity to learn.

The Lessons were well learned. So much so that he finally reached a point where he realized it was time to start his own business. He chose Canada to open The Bullion Mart. It was 2001 and his ol6ce consisted of no more than a desk and a wealth of experience accumulated throughout the years.

A Touch of Gold

Experience is crucial of course, yet you also need to be brave enough to venture into unchartered territories if you want to grow. That is how, aside from buying and selling gold and other precious metals. Zaman went into refining, an area his brother hadn’t explored. ‘The move was certainly a successful one as refining now accounts for approximately 25 per cent of Zaman’s total revenue.

“Refining is not something I got into when I started my company: it actually took me a while to learn it”  he admits. In terms of trading, he comes from the banking and financial sector, so “l used what I learned there plus what my brother taught me”. He also stayed awake many a sleepless nights to monitor the New York markets. Fortunately he doesn’t have to do that anymore, now that he is in its same time zone.

The entrepreneur considers himself a reliable analyst, often consulted about the volatile gold and precious metals markets. II is company deals with small investors yet also provides large amounts of gold to industrial companies. In addition, customers rely on his secure facilities to keep millions of dollars’ worth of gold.

Gold is a topic Zaman knows inside out. Yet the changes he’s seen in that market in the last ten years are nothing short of remarkable. “It was also a buying market back then, of course” he says, “However, at that time the volume of transactions was at a level one; today I’d say it’s at a level nine.” he concludes.

That level of activity has obviously impacted his business and made it grow. What started as a 200 square feet office turned into a 600 sq. ft. one and just a few months ago, into a 3,000-sq. ft. one. Even though The Bullion Mart is still located in the same building where it started, in an area of downtown Toronto traditionally populated by the jewellery industry, it’s nothing like the original company. These days it houses 15 employees, as well as some impressive high-tech machinery. One of them is an XRF machine (a spectrometer), capable of analyzing any piece of metal in 60 seconds or so and lists every component in it.

SILVER OR GOLD?

Where is gold heading to? That’s probably one of the questions Zaman gets more often. “Some analysts predict it will reach $3,500, some even $5,000 an ounce. I know it’s going to hit $2,000 at any time now.” The truth is, lately, changes in prices have been very sudden and drastic at the same time. “If you go back ten or even five years back, it would take years for the price of gold to fluctuate $100; nowadays it can go up and down that amount within one day,” lie explains. “It’s very scary for the market, and that’s one of the reasons many small traders are getting kicked out and many big traders are coming into the business.” Zaman believes that, in spite of recent price setbacks, gold will continue to be on the rise until the world economy gets back on track. In other words, it might take a while…

In the meantime, silver has been doing very well, thank you. Zaman sees its growing potential, especially when considering its industrial use. “China needs a lot of silver to build solar panels and, unlike gold, that silver is not coming back to the market,” he explains. “In today’s market, silver is at $32 yet it can reach $150 or $200 anytime. Within a five-year period, investors can get 140 per cent return with gold while getting 300 per cent with silver.”

Knowledge, experience, service and a touch of boldness are all great ingredients to create a thriving business venture. Moniruz Zaman and The Bullion Mart can check all those boxes and look ahead to years of growth.

Author
Moniruz Zaman
Founder & CEO
Bullion Mart, Canada