profile GRAHAM JACKSON
Managing Director, Loloma Jewellers Arriving in Townsville from Brisbane in 1957, business leader Graham Jackson jokes that he’s “thinking of staying”. Before becoming owner of Loloma Jewellers, Graham was an accountant who moved into general insurance sales, a car dealership partnership and then into a variety of management roles. So it’s not surprising to learn his number one work goal for 2014 is to conduct successful operational management training for Loloma Jewellers’ various levels of management. “I’m also focused on improving and expanding our range of services for both our Townsvillewide and regional client base,” he says. Graham opened Loloma Jewellers in 1959 in Bartlett’s Arcade. “Having been a jewellery store manager, the idea exploded after trying to buy my wife, Betty, some Champagne glasses at the jewellers in Townsville. I was staggered to see the standard of the stores,” he says. “I came home and suggested to Betty that we open a jewellery store and that her mother could come up and manage it.” The rest is history with the now four stores expanding in size and becoming a Townsville icon, with many three-generation engagement ring sales. A loving father and grandfather, Graham has six ‘wonderful’ children and 13 ‘incredible’ grandchildren aged from three to 23 years of age. “We’re a close-knit family,” he says. Motivated by ‘helping others’, Graham says one of his proudest achievements was being Chairman of Townsville Enterprise Ltd for seven years, where he assisted with planning for Townsville’s bright future. “Townsville is a dynamic and friendly city, greatly assisted by the hundreds of volunteers who never stop moving Townsville forward in so many different ways, whether it be with charities, tourism, business or education and training,” he says. “It’s this generous nature that reflects Townsville’s continued success for the past 55 years.”