Cecil Rhodes
Cecil Rhodes (1853 - 1902) is the undisputed father of the modern diamond industry. As founder of De Beers, he was able to build a monopolistic empire through skill and cunning, although Rhodes did not start out with an interest in diamonds. As a young lad from England, he began his business interests in South Africa by servicing the "ant hill" of humanity that was descending on Kimberley during the diamond rush of the late 1800s. Rhodes started out selling ice cream to the diamond-diggers and service workers, and later selling steam-powered water pumps to drain the open-pit mines of Kimberley.
Cecil Rhodes' De Beers empire was started on a farm owned by two Boer settlers and brothers, D. A. and J. N. De Beer. Around 1873 the De Beer brothers sold out to a group of mining syndicates who later merged with Cecil Rhodes' pumping company to form 'De Beers Consolidated Mines.' Cecil Rhodes died a single man with no children and, no heirs to his empire. The African nation of Rhodesia was named after him (now the Republic of Zimbabwe).
Barney Barnato
During the same period that Cecil Rhodes was building De Beers Consolidated Mines, a prospector, diamond speculator and fellow Englishman named Barney Barnato (1852 - 1897) was buying up pieces of the Big Hole in Kimberley to form the Kimberley Central Mine. De Beers and Kimberley Central were the two largest mining interests in South Africa at the time.
With the help of the Rothschild bank in London, Rhodes made several aborted attempt to gain control over Barnato's interest in Kimberley Central Mine, but was eventually successful in convincing Barnato to merge with De Beers. In exchange, Barnato was given appointed to 'life governor' and temporary controlling interest in De Beers [6]. One of the richest men in the world, Barnato died several years later, mysteriously falling overboard on a ship passage back to England.
Ernest Oppenheimer
Ernest Oppenheimer (1880 - 1957) created the concept of "single-channel marketing" over 100 years ago, by funneling the world's supply of diamonds through a single clearing house. Oppenheimer gained control of Namibia's diamond mines, forming the Anglo American mining conglomerate. This gave him the financing and power to gain the chairmanship of De Beers.
Today, Oppenheimer's Anglo American operates a fleet of diamond recovery ships off the coast of Namibia and South Africa under the umbrella of De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited (DBCM), and Central Holdings Limited (CHL), an Oppenheimer family holding company, and in partnership with Namdeb.
Nicky Oppenheimer
Ernest's grandson, Nicky Oppenheimer (born 1945) is the chairman of the De Beers Diamond Mining Company and its subsidiary Diamond Trading Company. The Oppenheimer family and Anglo American maintains a 45% stake in De Beers today. Africa's richest man, and #134 on the Forbes list of the world's richest people, Nicky Oppenheimer is worth an estimated $4.5 billion.
Nicky Oppenheimer was forced to sell a 26% share of De Beers to a South African black empowerment group. This was the first major ownership change for De Beers in over a century.
Lev Leviev
The Lev Leviev Group, created by Israeli national, Lev Leviev (born 1956 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan) is the worlds largest cutter and polisher (diamantaire) of rough diamonds, with factories in Armenia, India, Israel, and the Ukraine. The Lev Leviev Group also owns mining interests in Nambia's offshore dredging operations. Through his personal relationship to Vladimir Putin and other Russian heads of state, Lev Leviev has formed a partnership with the ex Soviet state-owned diamond firm, now called ALROSA [7], formed by Decree 158C of the Russian Federation, in 1992.
By circumventing the De Beers supply chain, Alrosa now sells direct to cutting factories throughout Russia, which are now owned by Lev Leviev. ALROSA produces 100% of Russia's rough diamond output and approximately 20% of the world's rough diamonds [9]. Using this model of "local control," the Leviev Group has found willing partners in several countries including Angola's ASCORP after De Beers' exit in 2001. Mr. Leviev's net-worth is estimated at $2.5 billion (#278 Forbes List). Lev Leviev lives in B'nei Brak, Israel, with his wife and their nine children.
Gujarat's Indian Diamantaires
Much of India's diamond trade is controlled by a handful of wealthy families, the Hindustan Diamond Company Ltd. (HDC), and De Beers India. It is estimated that India cuts, polishes, and exports several billion dollars worth of gems per year, and the DTC has demonstrated Gujarat's power in the diamond cutting/polishing arena by increasing India's take of its 125 sightholder contracts to nearly 50 in 2006.
Companies like Bhavani Gems, D. Navinchandra & Co (board of directors - above, right), Gitanjali Gems, M. Suresh & Co, and Vijaydimon are family owned operations run by Jains with the common surnames of Jhavari, Mehta, and Shah. Jainism is an ancient Indian religious sect believing in the 'Jain' philosophy, based upon eternal, universal truths. One universal truth is certain; the diamond business will make you very rich!
Gitanjali Gems is one of the largest manufacturers of diamonds and diamond jewelry in India, with diamond cutting factories located in Borivali, Mumbai and in Surat's 'Special Economic Zone' [12]. The Indo Argyle Diamond Council (IADC) formed in 1994 as a consortium of Indian jewelry manufacturers and cutting houses, to elevate quality standards, improve perceptions, heighten awareness of ethical business practices, and to develop an "understanding of the world market." The Bharat Diamond Bourse in Mumbai, is the newest addition to India's arsenal of global marketing tools to promote exports.
Dilip Mehta
Indian diamantaire, Dilip Mehta of Mumbai, India (born 1949), is the CEO of the 'Rosy Blue Group' which is currently one of the world's largest diamond companies, with $1.7 billion in annual sales [17]. Harshad Mehta ("Diamond King of the world") is one of the founders of Rosy Blue, and is currently a Senior Partner and head of the UAE division. Several other divisions of the Rosy Blue Group, from Hong Kong to Israel, are headed and staffed by Mehta family members.
Of the $26 billion per year diamond revenues that flow through Antwerp, The Indian communities' share has grown to around 60%, displacing the Hasidim as the dominant force in the industry [14]. This vast fortune is shared by some 300 to 500 Gujaratis families from Palanpur on the Gujarat-Rajasthan border [15].
Bharat & Vijay Shah
Bharat and Vijay Shah came from a family of jewelers going back three generations. The brothers, both college dropouts, started out thirty years ago by purchasing cheaper stones that the Dutch Hasidim, and Israelis didn't want to work with [19]. By slowly developing markets, they were able to gain an increasingly larger share of the wholesale diamond trade, propelling their twin companies, Vijaydimon (Belgium) and B Vijaykumar (India) , into a global position with nearly $1 Billion a year in sales.
Vijaydimon is a DTC sightholder with offices in Belgium, China, India, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, UAE, and the United States. Vijaydimon also purchases rough diamonds from Canada's Diavik Mine and Argyle (Rio Tinto) and Russia [21]. The company has cutting factories in Antwerp, Bangkok, Bombay, Palanpur, Surat, and Tel Aviv, employing 22,000 workers.
