By Rafael Papismedov

Speaking Monday 27th March 2023 during the official launch of diamond cutting and polishing company, HB Botswana – a local subsidiary of Belgium-based HB Antwerp – the Co-Founder of the Company, Rafael Papismedov had this to say:

This is a big day for us. A dream come true. We are honoured to be here in the presence of the leadership of both Botswana and Flanders – our two homes. It’s like we have both parents with us.

HB was founded in 2020 by immigrants to Antwerp/Flanders. By Outsiders. We immigrated to Antwerp at different ages, but we all experienced the same journey.

The beginning was tough. We had to fight our way into local society.  At the same time, we always felt welcome, and we all appreciated the culture and the rich history of our adopted home.

We were inspired by the hard work and entrepreneurship we saw all around us.

With this in mind, when we established HB, we wanted to highlight Antwerp’s heritage. We were grateful for the opportunities we had, and humbled by the support of the local leadership for our radical notion, hatched in the midst of the pandemic (Covid-19), while the world shut down.

We were determined to chart a new path. We broke out of the diamond ghetto – we opened our doors to local young talent, to the Flemish ecosystem, to the local universities – we refused to play the old game of secrecy.

In less than three (3) years, we created the largest diamond ecosystem in the western world. An ecosystem that relies on proprietary technologies developed in our own R&D center.

But more than everything, it relies on the wonderful humans we onboarded. And thanks to them, we grew into one happy family. To do so, we needed a wonderful partner – Lucara Diamonds.

And this is a perfect moment to recognise the leadership of Lucara, represented here by Mrs. Naseem Lahari.

We upended the traditional seller-buyer relationship; we moved to a true partnership. We aligned interests and eliminated any potential conflict of interest. We demonstrated that transparency delivers more revenue to all participants: miner – Government– HB.

We no longer pay for raw minerals. We pay for the finished product: polished diamonds. We moved from a model that hides the source – to a model that celebrates the source.

This sounds like a simple difference, but it is a radical departure from the way things have always been done before.

As outsiders, we also saw the need for disruption at the source, with more technology and digitalisation, more transparency, more participation all along the value chain, and under one roof.

And this was nowhere more true than here in Botswana. As His Excellency always reminds, diamonds are Botswana’s national treasure; modern Botswana was built on diamonds.

They have already delivered so much value to the country and the people, but there was so much more upside still to be realised.

We listened to President Masisi and the leadership.

Botswana is ready – this is what Botswana is telling the world, this is what we hear from the people of Botswana.

Botswana is ready to participate in far more of the diamond supply chain and take a much greater stake in the diamond value chain. Botswana wants more!

HB Botswana is built from this vision. A vision embedded in us by the transformation agenda of the GRB – strongly articulated by His Excellency.

In Botswana, we saw so much more than a mineral from the ground. We saw the people – smart, well educated, talented, hard-working, bold – beautiful people, with a rich community & culture, ready for so much more.

Therefore, ladies and gentlemen, we don’t believe in fixing systems, we choose a radical change of mindset – we don’t believe in opportunism, rather in value creation.

So, if that is our inspiration and vision, let me tell you how we bring it to life. Let me tell you what is HB Botswana.

We are celebrating today the inauguration of our first facility in Botswana – a state of the art facility which is a perfect replica of what we have built in Antwerp.

This is not only the newest, it is also the most advanced diamond facility in the world.  Furthermore, we are gathered here in this beautiful complex to celebrate that, on the heels of opening our first facility in Botswana over in the Diamond Park – while the paint is still drying – we are breaking ground on this, our second facility in Botswana, an even more ambitious plan that is 15 times the size.

Let me be clear about what we are doing here. HB Botswana is not a midway station. It is a complete, end-to-end, freestanding operation comprised of the people of Botswana, transforming Botswana’s diamonds, using our proprietary technology that will be developed here, in our own Botswana R&D center.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are not here to nibble around the edges. We are all in. Our success has come – and will continue to come – from our fearless willingness to challenge every aspect of the way things have been done to date and to recognise value where others have overlooked it.

I’m talking about human capital – the wonderful young people of Botswana, so many of them are here with us today. They are moving forward with us. And this movement is noisy, joyful, strong and unstoppable.

This is the moment that is upon us. The days that the youth of Botswana were limited to digging and washing diamonds are over. And their abilities have no limits.

The new mindset will celebrate the positive impact that diamonds deliver to this wonderful nation. HB Botswana will train and employ hundreds of Batswana.

Batswana will be scanning, analysing, planning, collecting data, transforming, marketing, branding and selling Batswana diamonds – applying high-value commercial skills to the diamonds that belong to them.

Batswana will be involved in the development of every new technology – IP and digital tools.

And the story of Botswana will be told around the world through every diamond we sell, because HB Botswana will differentiate and elevate the diamonds coming from Botswana, transformed in Botswana, for the people of Botswana.

We are putting a priority – and creating a premium – for the provenance of Botswana. And by doing so, we will elevate the value of everything Botswana offers.

When you walked in here today, you saw signs saying, “the Butterfly Effect,” and that represents the impact we hope to make.

The Butterfly Effect refers to the fact that when a butterfly flaps its wings in Tahiti, it can create a breeze that builds to a hurricane on the other side of the world.

For Botswana, the Butterfly Effect means the change in mindset when people realise they want more and there are no limits. When that happens, people in the rest of the world will view Botswana differently and place a higher premium on the products, services and experiences of Botswana.

And when that happens, Botswana will be used as a reference for governance and value creation across Africa and around the world.

Ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, we’ve invested in Botswana because we believe in Botswana. We want to grow further in Botswana, with Batswana.

The HB project is as much yours as it is ours. We would not be here without the trust and shared values of the Government of Botswana.

We set no limits on our joint ambitions. And we are humbled by this opportunity to succeed together.

Botswana is ready. HB is ready. Our team is ready.

Team, are you ready?

The future is now.

This is the destiny of Botswana.

Pula, Pula, Pula!  

(C) The Pan Afrikanist