26 Sep 2016

Diamond Sorting and Valuation Learnership Programme graduates have been commended for the work they had put towards the successful completion of their course.

De Beers Global Sight-holder Sales Diamond (DBGSS) Academy manager, Mr Paul Fitzgerald said this at the 2016 second cohort of the six months programme graduation ceremony at Avani Hotel in Gaborone.

 “I hope that you shall take the skills that you have worked so hard to develop over the last months and put them to good use in whatever direction which your career takes you in the future,” he said.

He said back in 2013, when the academy moved to Botswana with the rest of the London sales operation, they had a clear vision of delivering a meaningful training programme that would benefit the citizens of Botswana, as part of a broader De Beers beneficiation strategy.

“After seeing what our sister academy in South Africa had achieved with their own version of a learnership programme, we decided that this would be an ideal vehicle to help us achieve this vision,” he said.

He said they invited 90 people to attend a series of workshops and through team exercises and assessments, the number narrowed to 30 people who were invited for interviews, thus leading to the enrolment of six students, of which only one dropped out, due to other prospects.

For his part, the process manager of De beers Global Sightholder Sales (DBGSS), Mr Mpho Chamo implored the graduates that diligent and passionate execution of work could lead them to winning more than half the battles of their career.

“Do the following religiously; understand and internalise the plan, identify all the factors that are required to deliver the plan, identify the critical success factors, identify the critical activities and align resources such as time, energy and money to the activities to get work done,” he said.

The DBGSS Diamond Academy, located in Gaborone, is the training centre for De Beers Global Sightholder Sales with the core functions of training new staff members and providing secondary training for experienced diamond staff. 

The Learnership programme requires candidates with good listening, oral and written communication skills as well as good analytical, observation and problem solving skills, he added. 

“Learners need to be detail conscious and routine orientated with unquestionable integrity and honesty, and be prepared to operate in a strictly controlled security environment,” he said. ENDS