Nurturing the Next Generation of Diamantaires

RAPAPORT... If anyone in the industry wanted to know how to transform a diamondbusiness and safeguard its future, they might do well to speak to the 25members of the Young Diamantaires group who went on last week's mission toSouth Africa.The delegates from 10 countries included a jeweler who setup a museum to boost interest in gems, another who began offering lab-growndiamonds, and several social-media buffs. This reporter was not the onlyparticipant who sat at the back of bus receiving Instagram lessons from truemillennials.Young Diamantaires came into being in 2016, when Rami Baron,chairman of the promotions committee for the World Federation of DiamondBourses (WFDB), saw the need to help the new generation of industry membersconnect. He set up a WhatsApp group - which now has more than 200 members - andhas organized meetings at trade shows. The oversubscribed visit to De Beers'Venetia mine was the most ambitious plan yet, involving a day at the site,excursions to a local school and a nearby national park, and an opportunity tomeet businesses De Beers supports in the surrounding area. Listen to an interview with Rami Baron here (article continues below):The strong consensus on the trip was that mining companiesneed to grant this sort of access to people who are interested, and not justthose with a direct commercial connection to the operations. De Beers has oftenwelcomed clients at its mines (and once hosted Kim Kardashian at the Jwanengdeposit in Botswana), but the members of the Young Diamantaires were in adifferent category. Many of them were looking to learn more about the industry,and bring back knowledge they could use to help sell diamonds in their or theirclients' retail stores. "People wanted to be secretive about what goes on in a mine.But I have seen huge change in this," said Prernaa Makharia, an India-basedjewelry blogger and influencer, and one of the volunteer social-media tutors."[Companies] have started believing in the concept of bringing awareness toconsumers about what goes on behind the scenes." For instance, the group met mining workers who seemed happyin their jobs, experienced the stringent safety rules De Beers enforces atVenetia, and were able to ask mine managers about the operational details. Theyalso learned about the current expansion from open-pit to underground mining,which will ensure rough supply through to 2046 - by which time severalgenerations of diamond dealers and consumers will have come and gone. De Beers also arranged a visit to one of the 19 localschools the company funds, and invited some nearby businesses - which De Beersalso supports - to display their merchandise at the lodge where the group wasstaying. After all, modern consumers increasingly care about the social goodassociated with products, and want real assurances about the provenance ofdiamonds. "Where they do these things, other mining companies arebound to follow," said Kealeboga Pule, founder and managing director ofJohannesburg-based Nungu Diamonds, who initiated and helped organize the trip. "They'rerealizing the need to be more open." The three days were also anopportunity to devise ways of helping local people in South Africa, andboosting sales at home. One evening, after the group had visited the DeBeers-sponsored Renaissance Secondary School in Musina, in the northernmostpart of the country, Baron sat the group around a campfire to discuss how theycould raise $140,000 to fund a library and cafeteria for the pupils. Under a baobab, the region'sprotected "upside-down" tree, they debated the details of how to find themoney, but one thing kept coming up: The industry has an ethical and commercialimperative to get involved in these local projects and create a story forconsumers. (If they want another narrative, they might highlight the work DeBeers has done to transplant baobabs when mine work has forced it to uprootthem.) "[The campfire discussion] sparkeda desire and determination to make a change and to contribute," Baron noted."The highlights have been shared with [De Beers] executives, who could see therawness of emotion we all experienced and our determination to contribute andmake a difference." Young Diamantaires is nowconsidering how it can create export opportunities for local diamond cutters inSouth Africa through an arrangement with Australia, where Baron is based. Italso plans to expand the group through a website and, potentially, by launchingglobal chapters, the founder added. The participants know they have adifficult task reforming the wider industry. Attitudes in the trade arechanging slowly, but there still needs to be a shift in the way people approachnew ideas and younger trade members, they argued. Many older diamond dealersbelieve the current downturn is simply another dip that will end with anupturn, but this is incorrect, noted Alain Zlayet, CEO and founder of Antwerp-basedZlayet & Sons Diamonds. "We are the ones who are thinkingand talking and researching in a new way, like the millennials," Zlayetexplained. "They've understood we are a source of information for [institutionssuch as the WFDB]. They tap us." The reporter was a guest of De Beers.Main image: The group at the Venetia mine. Below: The campfire discussion under a baobab tree. (Simphiwe Nkwali/De Beers)