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  • Gold evangelist spreads the word

    Gold evangelist spreads the word
    Uta Harnischfeger

    Last Updated: April 30. 2009 11:52PM UAE / April 30. 2009 7:52PM GMT

    Aram Shishmanian, the chief executive of the World Gold Council,
    believes gold will retain its allure. Jonathan Player for The National
    Aram Shishmanian understands the connections that bind people to
    gold. For 35 years, he has worn a matte gold watch, a graduation
    present from his father.

    That sentiment, and a 33-year career as a consultant and business
    philanthropist, has helped him run the World Gold Council (WGC) in an
    age when the metal's appeal is under pressure from a growing array of
    consumer attractions such as mobile phones and designer handbags.

    In recent years, gold has lost `some of its aspirational character',
    Mr Shishmanian says. He points out that many young consumers in major
    emerging economies such as China and India are more interested in
    western-style luxury goods than beautifully crafted gold
    jewellery. `Heavily exposed to the media, they aspire for western
    consumer and luxury goods as part of a stereotyped western lifestyle.'

    Since about 50 per cent of these consumers are under 20, the WGC needs
    to reposition its gold products towards the youth market. `Today gold
    is competing head on with high-branded products from the mobile phone
    to the Louis Vuitton handbag,' Mr Shishmanian says. `We must ask
    ourselves the question: what does it take to reignite that passion and
    aspirational demand for gold?'

    He already has a model for his rebranding plan. `Diamonds have done a
    fantastic job in creating demand,' he says, somewhat grudgingly. But
    then, Mr Shishmanian, 57, has never been frightened of change. Before
    moving to the WGC, he spent 27 years at the accounting firm Accenture,
    moving up the ladder every few years. Eventually, he launched and
    later headed the finance division. `[I] never once sat in a corner
    office,' he says.

    Five months ago, he began his stint as a gold evangelist, after
    accepting an offer from Gregory Wilkins, the WGC chairman, to lead the
    council.

    At the time, he was holding an average of five non-executive
    directorships at FTSE 100 firms, after retiring from Accenture five
    years earlier. The board positions ranged from a start-up insurer to
    biotech companies and a carpet manufacturer. Then came the phone call
    from Mr Wilkins and he moved into the gold business.

    Since then, Mr Shishmanian has become a passionate student of the
    traditions of the world's largest gold consumers - India, China and
    the Middle East. In these regions, gold serves as a key component of a
    woman's wealth, through a marriage dowry.

    `In the West, gold is easily linked to conspicuous consumption,' he
    says.

    `But I love the way it is ingrained in, for example, India. When you
    have a good harvest, you buy gold. Gold is an investment, a wealth
    creation and a protection.' During the recent economic boom, luxury
    goods became `affordable' and reached a broader market, challenging
    gold's supremacy in India and China. Simple gold jewellery became a
    relic to some customers.

    But the global downturn has reignited interest in the metal because of
    its reputation as a haven, boosting gold's price earlier this year to
    just below a peak of US$1,032 an ounce in March 2008. `Now, they are
    rediscovering it as a means to preserve wealth,' Mr Shishmanian says.

    Even so, once the economy improves, he wonders whether gold will
    retain its allure to future customers. He believes it will. After all,
    his first challenge when he took over the WGC was to convert his wife
    to gold. She was, he says, `a diamond and platinum lady'.

    Following an invitation to his first official WGC event in Italy, he
    realised his wife had to wear gold. To encourage her interest in the
    precious metal, he took her to a renowned Italian jewellery
    designer. `She caught the gold bug and looks gorgeous in it,' he says.

    Just like the product he promotes, Mr Shishmanian has a colourful
    past. Born in Iran in 1951, he went to what he says was `boarding
    school in London' - when he was only nine months old. His parents
    travelled the globe as textile merchants and felt they could not take
    him along every time they moved. But when he reached his teens, he
    joined his parents in Iran and Kuwait, where the family lived for
    extended periods. So, while he says he feels close to his Armenian
    heritage, Mr Shishmanian describes himself as a mixture of cultures
    and attitudes, born out of living on four different
    continents. `Emotionally, I feel like an Armenian... in terms of my
    thinking, I am English because of my education, and culturally I feel
    very open because I have lived outside of the UK half of my life.'

    It was a visit to his family in Iran that eventually shaped his life
    and career after accompanying a family friend, a consultant, to a
    client meeting. During the course of the discussions, he was impressed
    with how the company acted on his friend's advice. At that point, Mr
    Shishmanian decided to study economics at City University in London,
    receiving an MBA from its Cass Business School. He joined Arthur
    Andersen, as Accenture was then called, in 1976.

    During his time there he developed an interest in philanthropy. It was
    initially sparked when he accompanied another family friend to his
    work at the UN office in Tehran. Mr Shishmanian says he then decided
    to do `some good in life'. But it was not until many years later, in
    1988, when a devastating earthquake struck Armenia, that he `made good
    on that vow'.

    Using marketing skills honed during decades of closing business deals,
    he raised `unbelievable sums' for hospitals and schools for an
    Armenian charity. `That made me believe that you can make a difference
    through the action you can take.'

    He later served on the board of the Marie Curie Cancer Care charity
    for many years and visited projects in Vietnam as a Save the Children
    goodwill ambassador. `I will definitely take on more charity work,
    when I am an old man,' he says with a smile.

    [email protected]
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