Fady Njeim Ltd

Since Fady Njeim was a kid, he had a passion for diamonds and jewelry. He wanted to learn about it back home in Lebanon, but couldn’t really find the institution or mentor to fulfill his needs and was also troubled with the outbreak of a civil war. As a result, he traveled to the United States to study electrical engineering in Ohio at Case Western University. While studying there, he found out about a school in Santa Monica, California known as the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), a highly credible institution that offers the Graduate Gemologist degree that would give him the accreditation, knowledge, and experience he needed to pursue his passion. Fady drove there, excited to finally discover a place to learn more about diamonds. After graduating from GIA he drove to Dallas, Texas to visit relatives, and later left for New York City to pursue his passion as a gemologist in the diamond district. It was 1984 when Fady first arrived in NYC and started working at a diamond manufacturing company where he developed his expertise for diamond cutting and analysis. He spent 5 years cultivating his knowledge before he founded his own company in 1989 called Fady Njeim Ltd. He would trade all types of diamonds and jewelry all week long to try to meet expenses; the early days were very difficult and the demand for his niche in colored diamonds was very low. In 1992, Fady suffered a huge loss and learned a hard lesson while dealing with dishonest people. This loss forced Fady to shift into other commodities for about a year to keep himself afloat. Luckily because of his solid reputation and superb knowledge of the diamond industry amongst his colleagues, he had the opportunity to come back partnering with other dealers. Within a couple of years Fady was able to build an even stronger business and client base as he connected and traveled around the world to places like Brazil to find rough diamonds, specializing in yellow diamonds and capes. As he continued working alone, he met new young people who he saw potential in and in the year 2000 he established Global Diamond Group (GDG).