DTC Botswana

PRIDE AND PROSPERITY THROUGH DIAMONDS

ADDING SPARKLE TO LIFE

We talk to Sedireng Serumola, Managing Director of DTC Botswana, about responsible diamond manufacturing and unlocking the value of both gems and people Africa Outlook (AO): Briefly introduce us to DTC Botswana.

Sedireng Serumola, Managing Director, DTC Botswana (SS): Debswana is a 50/50 joint venture partnership between the Government of the Republic of Botswana and the De Beers Group. We are the world’s largest and most sophisticated rough diamond sorting and valuing operation.

If you get the opportunity to come to Botswana, it is a wonderful world-class facility, and what we want to do for the future is also informed by what we have right now.

Every organisation has its history, and ours is grounded on the visionary leadership that this country has had. For me, this is always a reminder to myself and my colleagues that we must take our responsibilities very seriously.

You will find that one of the most important

things was one of the early decisions made in the 1960s by the national leadership, including the chiefs, that all mineral rights are invested in the state. These minerals then benefitted Botswana as both a society and a nation.

The Government of the Republic of Botswana formed the Botswana Diamond Valuing Company (BDVC) in 1971, the same year that Botswana’s first diamond mine was established at Orapa. In 1982, the BDVC building, known as Orapa House, was opened in Gaborone. After sorting and valuation, diamonds were sold to the De Beers Central Selling Organisation (CSO) in London. In 2006, DTC Botswana replaced BDVC and opened its new premises in 2008.

More specifically, our organisation was formed in the early 1970s, and in 2006, a new company called DTCB, replaced the old company, and we then moved to our new premises.

What we do at DTC Botswana is clean, sort, and value diamonds coming from Debswana, which is another 50/50 partnership between the government and DTC Botswana. Once we have sorted

the diamonds according to the 2011 DTC Botswana business model sales agreement, we sell them to two parties, the ODC and De Beers Group Site Holder Sales (DBGSS).

In the diamond pipeline – which includes exploration, mining and recovery, sorting, valuing, and sales, cutting and polishing, jewellery manufacturing, and, finally, retail – DTC Botswana falls in the midstream stage of the diamond value chain, i.e., the sorting, valuing, and sales. As part of our new strategy, we are actively finding ways to create linkages with the beneficiation sector, as beneficiation is of big importance for Botswana.

AFR: What for you differentiates DTC Botswana from the competition?

SS: DTC Botswana has the unique ability to sort up to 45 million carats annually. Due to prevailing market conditions, we currently sort about 23 to 24 million carats annually.

Our main operations comprise three main processes: diamond cleaning, sorting, and valuation.

Diamond cleaning consists of performing acid cleaning of all of Debswana’s diamond production and presenting the final product.

Sorting ensures accurate valuation of all

production into the cut, colour, clarity, and carat size and results in consistent delivery of rough diamonds to customers Valuing consists of selling to two customers: 85 percent to DBGSS and 15 percent to ODC. For me, it would be amiss to not talk about DTC Botswana without talking about our employees. What we do, and primarily what we see, is that we use hand sorting and technology for the lower sizes. However we are still finding that for the final product, especially for the top end, we need to bring in people. We cannot replace people.

AFR: Are there any recent key achievements that DTC Botswana has accomplished that you would like to highlight?

SS: Our strategy at DTC Botswana aims to transform the company into a High Performing Organisation (HPO) with a significant value release (revenue). This strategy was purely developed in-house; traditionally, we get facilitators from outside, but this came out of a situation when we were in lockdown and realised that we could find better ways of being productive.

As I have said at a personal level, this was one of the best decisions ever made because the

outcome is even better than anything I have seen in the past.

The short version is that in terms of our ambition, we want to pioneer a new diamond world and sorting environment. We have the facility, and we have the skills and purpose.

Our new purpose comprises unlocking diamond value and adding sparkle to life.

Unlocking diamond value entails realising the best potential from our diamonds by enhancing their value – thus maximising their worth, delivering right the first time and on time to our customers, and revealing the natural beauty and uniqueness that captures hearts and holds a promise of eternal love.

Adding sparkle to life entails impacting Botswana’s economy through the brilliance of our experienced workforce, which provides opportunities for sustainability and growth, an outstanding customer experience that draws exceptional satisfaction, and promotes opportunities for the betterment of lives in Botswana through more impactful social performance initiatives.

Our new visions include pioneering a new diamond world in sorting and valuing, stepping up as an organisation to not just be an industry player, but to become an industry leader, defining diamond sorting and valuing by being the first to explore and drive innovation and technological advancement, and promoting sustainability – i.e., meeting the needs of the present without compromising the future.

AFR: Tell us about any major challenges DTC Botswana has faced and what steps have been taken to overcome them.

SS: We have faced challenges over the years, and COVID-19 was one of them. We are still dealing, to a certain extent, with the lingering effects of the pandemic.

Some of the challenges we have faced out of the pandemic, and the impact of the Ukrainian and Russian war, are the supply chain challenges. Some of the equipment and the goods you order also take longer, and generally, the high inflation environment is one of the things we deal with.

It is important for us as an organisation to remain resilient and adaptable to ensure that we can ride the storm and be flexible in terms of our product offering. Our people, in my view, have been strong and able to deliver exceptional results despite all those challenges.

AFR: Can you further detail the DTC Botswana Diamond Academy and the accreditation that it has earned from the Botswana Qualifications Authority (BQA)?

SS: We have an in-house diamond academy that we have developed over the years so that we can train people who are now getting degrees and diplomas so that we can provide them with future skills.

We have had some incredible trainees in the last two years or so, in fact, I can recall last year, one of our top-performing sorters was somebody with less than five years of experience.

They have the opportunity to learn fast,

and we are also taking steps to look at this academy and see what we can do to ensure that it doesn’t only support DTC Botswana but also works closely with diamond manufacturers. Hence, the trainees have the necessary skills and the basics of sorting before they get to manufacturing.

In some of our products, especially for the largest and most special stones, one of the things that we look at and try to build into our training is for people to have the final, polished outcome in mind for a diamond and to do so, you need to have the basic understanding of manufacturing as well.

AFR: What is DTC Botswana’s core mission, and what are some current projects that you are excited about?

SS: We don’t only work hard; we play hard as well.

We had an event back in July celebrating a holiday where you dress up and go to the horse races. We also celebrate significant moments like DTC Botswana mothers and mother figures on Mother’s Day. The impact on life, the communities in Botswana, the society at large, and our customers are incredibly important. You can also think that adding sparkle to life really is the bling, bling in the literal sense for the customers.

AFR: Looking ahead, what are DTC Botswana’s key priorities and endeavours for the future?

SS: In our environment, technology is key.

We are leveraging technology to improve productivity, cost, and operational efficiency.

It’s not only for us in the sorting environment and the sorting houses, but even for the manufacturing centre.

People talk about strategy being about choices. For us, we settled on four strategic priorities around exceptional customer experience. That is where the value release will be, technologies and innovation – it’s a given. Sustainability is also a given, seeing where the world is going, along with intentional organisational capability.

At the end of the day, our purpose and ambition is our impact on society, the shareholder distribution, and skills development for our employees and the community.

We are looking forward with active excitement to also work with the government and the private sector so that we can transform this business. In my view, the government can’t do it alone and requires companies like DTC Botswana to be able to contribute to society at large.

dtcbotswana.com

DTC BOTSWANA Tel: + 267 364 9700 dtcbotswana.com

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