NAMDIA to establish a diamond cutting, polishing school

• Erasmus Shalihaxwe

STATE owned Diamond Company, the Namib Desert Diamond Company (Namdia) plans to establish a specialist school for certified diamond cutting and polishing studies, next year, as part of plans towards exploiting opportunities which create jobs for local people while adding local content and value to Namibian diamonds.

This was revealed by Namdia Board Chairperson Bryan Eiseb t during a recent media engagement where he spoke about the company’s operations and long term plans.

He said as of next year, the company would give preference to entities that add value to Namibia content through diamond cutting and polishing.

“Recently when our delegation visited Singapore we had informal discussions on how we could establish a specialist school for certified diamond cutting and polishing. These are among the endless possibilities that Namibian diamonds offer, and we should relentlessly pursue it for the benefit of our people,” Eiseb said.

Upon further enquiry by Confidente, NAMDIA spokesperson Beverley Coussement, said the plan was in its infants as it was still in the planning phase, however, discussions are on-going and it’s a matter of time before everything is finalised.

“This is part of Namib Desert Diamond’s long term goals to contribute to the developmental agenda to demonstrate sustainability, social impact, diversity and inclusion through its social investment vehicle NAMDIA foundation.

This is still in the conceptualisation and discussion phase, and would require smart partnerships with sight holders and collaboration with all players in the diamond pipeline.

It is still being extensively explored,” Cossement said.

She added that Namdia Board annually allocates a certain percent of gross profit to fund the Namdia foundation where initiatives such as this will be expended under.

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