Mr Lalji Patel, Group Chairman of DTC Sightholder - Dharmanandan Diamonds received the honour to open the first DTC Sight of 2012. This opportunity came as the Diamond Trading Company (DTC) – the distribution arm of the De Beers Group invited attendees at the ‘Diamonds in the Sky’ fundraising event in Hong Kong in September 2011, to bid to open the first DTC Sight of 2012 and also be guests of De Beers’ Chairman, Mr Nicky Oppenheimer, and Mrs Varda Shine, CEO of the DTC.
Mr Lalji Patel was successful in his generous bid to open the Sight and to receive an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour of the DTC. The monies from the Hong Kong event will support both the Diamond Empowerment Fund (DEF) and the China Charity Federation (CCF). Mr Patel mentioned that, “The vision and values of both NGOs benefitting from the ‘Diamonds in the Sky’ auction fit perfectly with our own. Our Dharmanandan Charitable Trust acts as a catalyst and a caring hand for inclusive development and aligns with our mission of “Shaping a Better Tomorrow”.
Varda Shine, Board Member of DEF, and co-host of the Diamonds in the Sky, Hong Kong event that raised over $2.7m, commented that “we were extremely pleased that one of our Sightholders’ bids won. Our Sightholder community are global leaders in social investment, and Dharmanandan demonstrated its alignment with our own DTC beneficiation objectives in supporting empowerment and development opportunities for youth around the globe.”
Founded in 1985, Dharmanandan Diamonds, is a DTC Sightholder and one of the world’s leading rough diamond manufacturers based in India.