The story of Gemaee begins not with a grand imaginative and prescient however with a day of frustration. Its founder, Dubai-based entrepreneur Safiya Mehbaliyeva, then a jewellery fanatic, wandered the gold-bright corridors of Dubai’s luxurious districts, trying to find a necklace that existed in her thoughts however, it appeared, nowhere else.
She searched from boutique to boutique, every promising exclusivity however providing solely items of what she was after. Costs fluctuated with out clarification, turning what ought to be an pleasing procuring expertise right into a day of stress and questions.
In an interview with The Emirates Times, Safiya shared, “I had a selected look in thoughts, however all the items I discovered have been in numerous locations, the costs have been numerous, and nobody rationally defined why the costs have been so completely different. For me, it was tiring in Dubai to seek out the proper piece of bijou at an inexpensive worth and, extra importantly, in a single location.”
That day, Gemaee’s basis began. It got here not from the boardroom, however from the thoughts of a buyer who merely wished to belief what she was shopping for. The thought was deceptively easy: deliver collectively the world’s most coveted luxurious items, authenticate them past doubt, and supply them to patrons who wished greater than only a model title, however a narrative, a legacy, and above all, certainty.
Gemaee: A New Type of Market
Safiya’s reply to the chaos of Dubai’s luxurious market was to not add one other faceless eCommerce website to the pile. As an alternative, she envisioned Gemaee as a hybrid digital platform with the soul of a boutique. The corporate would curate solely the beautiful items: baggage and jewellery from right this moment’s luxurious manufacturers–Hermès, Chanel, Rolex, and different storied homes–every bit handpicked and rigorously vetted.
However the true innovation was in how Gemaee would construct belief. In a world the place 30% of luxurious resale gadgets are estimated to be counterfeit, Safiya knew that authenticity needed to be greater than a promise; it needed to be a course of.
Gemaee’s system grew to become a two-step protocol: first, in-house consultants scrutinized each sew, clasp, and hallmark; then, the merchandise underwent a second test utilizing Entrupy, an AI-powered software that analyzes microscopic particulars and compares them to a database of thousands and thousands of real merchandise. The consequence was a certificates that didn’t simply say “genuine,” however was confirmed.
Safiya talked about, “We do double authentication. It means we’re doing in-house authentication, and one internationally accepted certification for this.”
This wasn’t nearly catching fakes. It was about restoring confidence to the secondhand luxury marketplace. Each bag, each watch, and necklace handed via Gemaee’s palms got here with a lifetime authenticity assure, a promise in a enterprise constructed on belief.
The Human Contact in a Digital World
Dubai is a metropolis that loves spectacle, however it additionally values discretion. Gemaee’s method was to supply each. Shoppers might browse the curated collections on-line, however the true magic occurred in particular person. The corporate’s Dubai showroom operates by appointment solely, providing a one-on-one expertise that felt extra like a personal session than a gross sales pitch.
For individuals who couldn’t attend, Gemaee additionally gives Zoom calls, exhibiting items in actual time, answering questions, and constructing relationships that transcended the display screen’s monitor.
Even the logistics have been private. Every stage of the packing and supply course of was filmed and shared with the shopper, from when an merchandise left the show case to its handoff to the courier. The objective was to eradicate nervousness, particularly for high-value purchases.
Sustainability With Substance
Luxurious, for all its glitter, has a darkish aspect. The hidden prices of glamour are the commerce in unique skins, the mountains of packaging, and the carbon footprint of world logistics. Safiya wished Gemaee to be completely different.
She shares, “We’re a really eco-loving firm. All of our packaging accessorizes the boxing that we’re utilizing for packaging. They’re eco merchandise, and even half of them are plantable. So it means you may take the…thanks card. You possibly can even plant it, and the tree will develop out, or one thing like this.”
Packaging was not simply recyclable however plantable, thanks playing cards that would develop into timber, and wrapping paper that left no hint. For each buy, a tree was planted. These weren’t advertising and marketing gimmicks however mirrored Safiya’s perception that luxurious ought to be stunning and accountable.
Difficult What the Standing Says
Safiya’s ambitions for Gemaee transcend revenue. She sees the corporate as an ecosystem the place patrons, sellers, and makers of luxurious items can join in belief and transparency. Her imaginative and prescient is not only to current uncommon luxurious gadgets but in addition to develop into an advocate for greatest practices within the resale enterprise, utilizing her platforms to teach purchasers on what to search for, what to keep away from, and why authenticity issues.
Safiya talked about, “We handle the growing presence of counterfeits that harm client confidence and tarnish the status of resale platforms. A strict authentication course of happens on this battle to make sure solely real luxurious merchandise are bought.”
As an example, whereas different resellers touted luxurious baggage as investments, Safiya pushed again, arguing that the true worth lay within the tales these items carried, not of their resale worth. She mentions, “Hermès Luggage usually are not an funding, and I need to justify this as a result of that is one thing I all the time inform. This can be a complete, , reverse to all resellers are telling these days.”
However at its core, Gemaee stays a mirrored image of its founder: meticulous, principled, and unafraid to problem the established order. Safiya’s journey from annoyed shopper to trade chief tells that the most effective companies are constructed not simply on alternative however on conviction.
Safiya concludes, “I created a web-based platform to deliver collectively all the most effective manufacturers so clients like me might discover precisely what we wish. And that’s how Gemaee was born!”
