As part of its preparations for the full relocation of the Diamond Trading Company (DTC) from London to Botswana, international diamond brokerage firm, Hennig & Co. Ltd-Botswana, has relocated its diamond broker Jamie Mordaunt from the United Kingdom office to Botswana.
Mordaunt told Sunday Standard that his main priorities are to prepare their clients for the international sights (rough diamond sales weeks) which will move from London to Botswana by the end of the year, and to assist in the expansion of their existing office in order to offer a full range of services to their clients when they arrive later this year.
“We believe it’s an exciting development of the relocation of DTC from London to Botswana for Botswana and for the diamond business; it’s a profound shift of focus after decades of doing business in London,” said Mordaunt.
The brokerage firm has been aware of the move for a few years now and began the preparations around five years ago when they opened the Hennig office in Botswana and appointed the Director, Tshebetso Kgatlwane.
He said Hennig as a leading diamond broker in all main diamond centres around the world saw it fitting that they establish a leading position in Botswana.
“Indeed, we seized the initiative early on by opening an office here in 2008. We also encourage our clients to come to Botswana with a view to establishing a local presence. ┬áHennig Group companies are already making a major contribution to Botswana by facilitating the operations of a number of diamond cutting factories here employing hundreds of citizens,” said Mordaunt.
He pointed out that Hennig continues to demonstrate its market-leading position in Botswana by expanding their team and presence in the country and by working with the world’s leading diamantaires to build sustainable diamond businesses in Botswana.
According to Mordaunt, Hennig’s pursuit of local opportunities is helped by their early entry into Botswana.
“The growth of a global diamond hub in Botswana presents many opportunities for Hennig as well as for our clients and local entrepreneurs; we’ve been actively pursuing such opportunities for some years now, and we are extremely well placed to identify further opportunities in Botswana’s exciting future,” he said.
 Hennig stated that since establishment 122 years ago, Hennig has played an important role in the development of global diamond manufacturing centres.
“We, therefore, bring to Botswana rich experience in success factors for development of sustainable diamond hubs. Based on this, we engage with and offer guidance to all stakeholders: Government, financial institutions, trade, diamond related institutions, suppliers, service providers, etc,” said Mordaunt.
Hennig’s priorities, Mordaunt said, are also to represent their clients effectively in Botswana, to support their ambitions for their own businesses in Botswana, and to build Hennig’s business in Botswana.
“We are not just making a contribution to Botswana through guidance and the Hennig business but also through the operations of many of the world’s leading diamantaires,”┬á he said.
Mordaunt added that along with other brokers, DTC and their  collective group of clients, they  are making an important contributions by being in Gaborone, bringing knowledge and skills to Botswana, starting businesses, taking office space, paying taxes, building factories, employing Batswana, as well as bringing their families and taking holidays in Botswana.
“Our clients are used to the very highest level of service around the world, so another element of Hennig’s contribution to Botswana will be to support development of service skills and knowledge here, thereby raising local standards and making the country even more appealing for visiting international executives,” he said.
He emphasized that the ambition and the challenge are to turn Botswana into a diamond trading hub, not just for visiting diamantaires but also for local entrepreneurs.
The diamond broker said Hennig looks forward to playing a role in realizing that ambition.
“Hennig’s activities have expanded from traditional diamond broking to include diamond tendering, manufacturing, and consultancy; we aim to bring all those aspects of our expertise here to support the growth of Botswana’s diamond industry,” said Mordaunt.
Touching on some of the challenges that the firm is facing, Mordaunt revealed that like all businesses in most places around the world, they have faced a challenging environment since the financial crisis of 2008-2009.
“The environment continues to change rapidly in the diamond business, and the DTC’s relocation to Botswana is an important element of our changing world,” he said. But Mordaunt is optimistic that as part of Hennig’s role, they will prepare their clients to manage these changes and overcome these challenges.
“Botswana is an unfamiliar environment for many of our clients, but our experience here for over five years gives Hennig the knowledge and the tools which we need to ease the transition for all involved,” he explained.
On his relocation from London to Botswana early January this year, Mordaunt acknowledged that there’s a high level of expectation but he welcomes it.
“I am just a link in a long chain of Hennig executives playing an important role in leading the development of major diamond centres. Like any service business, our challenge is to meet and to exceed the expectations of our clients,” he further pointed out.
