DTC Sightholder ‘Opens’ First Sight of 2011

Opening the Sight. From left - Daleyot, Shine, Oppenheimer and Arabov

(IDEX Online News) - In a major departure from tradition, the De Beers Diamond Trading Company (DTC) invited a Sightholder to officially “open” a Sight by cutting a ribbon. Erez Daleyot, CEO of DD Manufacturing (DDM), was also given a tour of the DTC by De Beers Chairman Nicky Oppenheimer and Varda Shine, CEO of DTC.

Daleyot was picked for the event on account of his generous bid at the Diamond Empowerment Fund auction, held in London last November. He and colleague Alon Arabov performed the honors.

Life Diamonds, the South African manufacturing operation of the DDM group, actively supports social projects and has hearing- and speech-impaired persons as a significant proportion of its workforce.

Daleyot commented, “The Diamond Empowerment Fund’s vision and values fit perfectly with our own, and we are very excited to have had the opportunity to support them to create a better future for the next generation in southern Africa.”

The DTC’s Shine, a board member of the Diamond Empowerment Fund, who co-hosted the charity event last year at which $1 million was raised, observed, “We were so pleased that one of our Sightholders won the bid, and especially a company that is aligned with our own DTC beneficiation objectives in supporting empowerment and development of opportunities for youth in southern Africa. DDM has been a fantastically generous supporter of good causes at our past charity events.”