Global Leadership Series with Pete Boyle 2018
From his beginnings as a street trader to CEO and founder of the Argento Jewellery empire with 31 stores, and 450 staff, Pete Boyle has done things his way. He is a true entrepreneur, who learned quickly to iterate and pivot his businesses direction to meet the market. His advice to the Belfast Young Leaders, delivered in a compelling and witty tale, was of the value of hard work and sheer determination. After his talk there was a steady queue of Young Leaders asking Pete for commercial advice, which he readily gave. Thank to you Pete and to our kind host, Glandore.
Biography
People often ask where our name comes from – Argento – it simply means silver in Italian. The Argento adventure started in 1997 by Strabane family man Pete Boyle who began his successful career as a street trader selling jewellery on the market stalls of Belfast, Northern Ireland.
The clever entrepreneur gained enough valuable experience and success selling to his customers to open his first store on Castle Street just around the corner from Argento’s eye catching flagship store on Royal Avenue, Belfast.
Pete in true entrepreneurial spirit decided to travel the world sourcing the best jewellery suppliers for his customers, he went from Mexico to India to Asia and beyond. To this day Pete annually travels to the largest jewellery fairs in the world to purchase stock for all 35 jewellery stores.
As well as Pete having an excellent eye for fine and costume jewellery, Argento are also key stockists of Nomination, Olivia Burton, Thomas Sabo, Swarovski. Pete has built excellent relationships with these brands and this has made Argento a one stop shop for all a customer’s jewellery needs. Since then the entrepreneur has launched a successful global website offering jewellery lovers affordable, stylish and fashion-led jewellery and watches. We now sell to almost every country in the world.
Pete’s commitment to Argento and his trust in his 450 plus staff has seen to company continue to grow with the most recent stores opening in Magherafelt and Nottingham. His entrepreneurial success was noted by Ernst and Young in 2011 where he was a finalist in their Young Entrepreneur of the Year awards and the Company recently won recently won Best Store Environment at the Retail Jeweller UK JEWELLERY AWARDS in 2016.
