As Botswana Diamond Beneficiation Projects Dismisses Workers, Why Can’t My Company Sell Botswana Diamonds?
An Editorial Perspective by Marc Choyt, Publisher, fairjewelry.org
A report posted on IDEX details how the beneficiation projects in Botswana have been impacted by falling diamond sales. This is very unfortunate, as the infrastructure and investments needed to create these types of initiatives are considerable.
I am an advocate and seller of ethically sourced jewelry products. From my experience, I know that it is difficult to sell my customer anything from DeBeers (DTC) supply chain. I know some jewelers and diamond merchants could not understand this. Yet many of the people who buy diamonds from my company are not living in some consensus trance that seems to blind so many within the diamond sector. No, these upscale “cultural creatives” living not far from their Whole Foods Market, walking around with their organic tee shirts and Patagonia fleece, know their history.
Last week, I tried, without success, to persuade one such customer into purchasing a diamond that was cut in Namibia. But the DeBeers tie was too much for him to stomach. His fiancé had spent a lot of time in Africa. Instead, he opted for a tanzanite I purchased from Shamsa Dawani, the Woman’s Mining Cooperative of Tanzania.
I will continue to advocate selling from DTC mines if they are linked to source holders who are involved in beneficiation. Best practices need to be supported. Africa needs the diamond trade. The Botswana and Namibia beneficiation practice represents real hope within the diamond sector, as I have covered on this publication several times.
Unfortunately, the channel of distribution for this Botswana brand, up until now, has been tightly controlled and limited, so I am told, only to large chain stores. Though there are people trying to change this, I have not, until now, been able to set up a trade account that would allow me to purchase the Botswana diamond. This is particularly ironic in light of the layoffs.
This type of limitation is counter productive to Botswana and counter intuitive to the trends. The change within the jewelry sector for ethical sourcing of diamonds is for the most part coming from small independents. It is a grass roots movement because large chains are too tied to a supply chain that is strictly cost driven.
But the smaller, forward thinking stores are agile and always looking for a slight advantage. Sometimes they target an online audience, or they are located in a demographic that is supportive of a higher ethical standard than is commonly provided.
Instead of investing all the marketing material in expensive trade show booths and ad campaigns, why would you not want to support these passionate first movers? What a missed opportunity!
Indeed, imagine for a moment a different scenario—if the Botswana brand had dozens of passionate small retailers advocating for its unique emotional appeal. If this had been building for a few years, perhaps it would have been shielded from the economic conditions.
At present, there seems to be some kind of disconnection between those in the diamond sector sourcing Botswana and what is happening on the ground in the ethical space. It is as if they have a blind spot that prevents them from understanding the big picture fully.
If the Botswana diamond as a brand were distributed widely, it would seem to be a win/win for everyone.
