As a sales consultant in the jewelry trade, COVID-19 has affected our business tremendously. The amount of leads that came across our path has diminished significantly. Since South Africa has eased up on regulations, business has started picking up again. However, it will take years to get back to where it was.

When people are in trouble they tend to leave the luxuries of life first. And being in the jewelry trade, very few people decided to buy any jewelry. We also buy back old jewelry and we noticed that a lot of people were coming by to sell their jewelry because they needed the money badly.

We have a small workforce and thus we had to be extremely careful with sanitation because if one person in the office contracted the COVID-19 virus, the entire office would have to self-quarantine and the business would come to a complete halt. Fortunately, no one has contracted the virus yet and we have been able to stay afloat during these hard times. The pandemic continues to affect my line of business because of the tourism regulations. Many of our clients are from foreign countries and with no tourists around, we can’t do business with them. Business carries on as usual, just with much fewer customers that come around. Many people are just looking for prices and starting to save for a time when they can afford to get engaged and married.

Overall we have been affected very negatively.