Are there signs of established world willingness to partner Africa’s new aspirations?
There are, entrepreneurs coming in are largely from the traditional centres, plus India. But there are going to be some who will find this brave new world challenging and difficult and some people don’t like change. There are conservative and traditional elements, who try to hang on to the past and who don’t see change as being positive. The diamond industry is changing, but I don’t think it is any different to any other industry. I had a get together with a group of 25 CEOs from all sorts of different companies and the question of average product or service lifecycle arose. Going around the room, your average time was 18 months whereby people were required to find a new competitive angle or new design. This is a highly competitive very fast changing world and if you want to be part of it, you’ve got to be prepared to be part of that mindset. The only constant is change. Is there an African awareness that wrongdoing damages the diamond business? The industry has made enormous progress
