Munir Malik Akbar was born in Matara, Sri Lanka. His early education was at St. Thomas College Matara and at Richmond College Galle. At the age of 11 he was sent to live with his uncle in order to complete his schooling at Royal College Colombo.
Munir apprenticed in his uncle’s business at 16 while still at Royal College and then followed in the entrepreneurial footsteps of his uncles and maternal grandfather, a jeweler established in 1855.
Being the oldest son, he became responsible for his family, he learnt the trade and moved into business for himself, exporting Sri Lankan gemstones and traveling in Asia to trade, and participate in industry trade shows.
Emulating his family tradition, giving to those in need with generosity and compassion is second nature to him.
On the demise of his father, he took on the additional responsibility of managing his father’s cement business which was the Southern Sales Agent for Mahaweli Marine Cement Company. His endeavors grew it to be the second largest general sales agent in Sri Lanka.
In August of 1992 Munir married his lovely wife Habeeba Salie, and on the advice of his father in law, who was his greatest inspiration, he started traveling to and fro to explore the US market. Whilst going through the struggle of ‘door to door’ sales visiting the offices of wholesale buyers of gems stones in the USA, his keen attention was drawn to the home shopping networks on television and so the dream began……
In 1996 on yet another business trip to the US with his wife and son, a fortuitous meeting in Santa Monica led him to an opportunity to work with Home Shopping Networks, as a struggling vendor.
Operating on the ‘No back door policy’, obstacles to Munir is just another step to overcome for further growth. The love for family and his desire to establish his own Jewelry network on television being the motivations, he left ‘no stone unturned’. The responsibility of being the older brother and a supportive son together with being a husband, and father to his own three children, Dhaiyaan 19, Amani 16, and Muniq 10 coupled with his passion of building and owning his own show on TV, is his driving force, thus the ‘Gems Bond Jewelry Network’ was born and is now aired on Direct TV, Time Warner and Dish Network four times a week nationwide!
Munir enjoys being an entrepreneur. The Jewelry and gemstones he works with are of great value and brings joy to and appreciation from many quarters. To him, personally, the most priceless gems in his collection are his wife and his three children!
