Home ›› 21 May 2023 ›› Business Connect
Perhaps no other precious metal has had such a vast impact on mankind than gold. Gold has maintained its value over the long run, making it a great store of wealth. Most people must agree that there is something extremely satisfying about investing in gold, be it coins or bars.
Saving in gold is a stable way to protect finances and have a secure future as gold coins and bars are also considered stable, long-term assets. They are often seen as hedges against inflation. But gold is expensive and owning even a small amount of it is beyond the affordability of many people.
Even those who manage to buy gold very often are concerned about authenticity, storage safety, and whether they are getting it at fair prices. Now a Bangladeshi app called Gold Kinen wants to handle all gold customers’ worries. It also wants to make easy and reliable arrangements for people of all strata to buy, store, gift, and sell gold.
Gold Kinen is reinventing the country’s growing digital economy, leading to an era of trustworthy gold purchase through app. It is combining technology with innovation to make saving gold for the future affordable and convenient for everyone.
It has emerged as Bangladesh’s first hallmarked and certified 22-carat gold app. It facilitates 24/7 gold buying, storing, gifting, and selling.
How it all started
Three professionals working in different companies – Rafatul Bari Labib, Atef Hasan, and Kamran Sunjoy Rahman – founded Gold Kinen.
Kamran was a seasoned international banker with 18 years of experience in investment banking and consumer banking. He is also the former vocalist of the popular band Warfaze, appearing in the first four albums.
Rafatul was a successful sales and marketing professional who worked at big corporates like Grameenphone, Philip Morris International, and bKash. Atef had a diversified successful career, which started at Accenture. He quit his jobs as a financial analyst at bKash before starting Gold Kinen.
The idea of Gold Kinen came to Rafatul’s mind during a random tea session with Atef in early 2021. Kamran joined them shortly after. The trio started developing the idea of Gold Kinen into a more robust one for a commercial roll-out.
Kamran is now the chief executive officer of Gold Kinen while Rafatul is the chief commercial officer and Atef is the chief financial officer.
Developing the idea
Gold Kinen was registered as a company in January 2022. The app was released on Apple’s App Store and Google Play in December that year. Later, based on user feedback about the beta version, the app was commercially launched in April this year.
Gold Kinen holds a gold dealing licence under the Gold (Procurement, Storage and Distribution) Order 1987, which allows the company to deal in gold products across Bangladesh. Furthermore, it holds an approved DBID registration under the commerce ministry, which is mandatory for operating any online business in Bangladesh in a regulated manner.
Gold Kinen maintains compliance very diligently and is constantly working towards maintaining the highest levels of integrity in its operations. It is also an active member of various trade associations, such as Bangladesh Jeweller’s Association (BAJUS), the e-Commerce Association of Bangladesh (e-CAB), and the Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS).
The company was funded by the three founding members and is backed by angel investors. Its current team has 35 members.
How it works
According to the founders, their aim is to make saving gold accessible, affordable, and convenient for everyone.
Customers can purchase gold in fractional amounts through the app at everyday official market prices announced by BAJUS. The gold is stored in bank-grade vaults managed by Securex until the customer decides to collect it in the form of coins or bars. The vaults are insured by leading insurance company Green Delta Insurance Company.
All Gold Kinen products are hallmarked and certified 22-carat gold. A certificate of authenticity from recognised third-party certification agencies is provided with all products, which are delivered safely to customers whenever they decide to collect them.
The starting price for buying gold is set at Tk 500, and there are several options on the app when it comes to collecting gold – 2g and 4g for coins and 1g, 5g, and 10g for bars.
The app also has the option to let users gift gold to others. The recipient will receive the gold straight to their Gold Kinen account. All payments made through the app are fully secure and handled by the most trusted organisations, such as bKash, BRAC Bank, Visa, and Mastercard.
Gold Kinen follows international standards in terms of securing and managing user data. As it complies with all data privacy guidelines of iOS and Android, the app was allowed on the platforms.
Customers can sell their gold they have stored on their Gold Kinen app with simple clicks. They can also convert their stored gold into coins and bars while Gold Kinen provides insured delivery.
Shaping consumer behaviour
The founders believe that as more and more people are using the platform and realising the benefits of buying, storing, selling, and gifting gold through an app, it will gain widespread acceptance.
“We are doing it for the first time in Bangladesh. A number of organisations are operating similar platforms globally, and many of those are in India and Malaysia. But those initiatives are solely dedicated to trading 24-carat gold,” Atef said.
He explained that Gold Kinen is not a trading app. “We are doing almost what gold shops do in Bangladesh. We are doing it through an app with a few unique features dedicated to helping customers.”
Atef said Gold Kinen is a digital platform but the product is physical.
“We are letting people buy gold in small amounts at everyday official market prices and then store it in our system. Later, they can collect their gold, starting from a minimum of 1g, to make jewellery or use it as per their preferences.”
The co-founder said the company provides insured delivery when customers request collection through the app and the delivery is made within five working days.
He said, “Customers can receive their gold or resell it to us like they do in jewellery shops by paying a minimum refund charge, which is often called khad [impurity] charge in gold shops. According to BAJUS directives, this charge is 15 per cent after conversion at present.
“Selling is mostly done with emergencies in mind. Moreover, using the app, customers are able to sell gold in fractional amounts that they have purchased over time. The price of the gold sold can be received either in their nominated mobile wallets or bank accounts.”
Atef further said, “So far since our recent launch, we have received a good response. Our customers are asking a lot of questions as it is a completely new practice.
“Many people have limited knowledge of the gold market. There is also a matter of trust as they can question why they should buy from and store gold with us.”
The three founders expressed hope that it might take some time for people to trust an app when it comes to dealing with such a valuable asset.
“Although the practice of buying gold via an app is new in Bangladesh, we are confident that using Gold Kinen will bring about a behavioural change among people,” Atef said.
“As new customers start using our app after getting positive feedback from the existing ones, we believe Gold Kinen will get a huge response. Of course, that will not happen overnight, but surely someday.”
