In 1861, two Dutch brothers stumbled upon diamonds on their farm in South Africa, sparking a chain of events that led to the establishment of the world's most successful cartel.
Unwilling to endure the stress of protecting their valuable find, the brothers - Diederik Arnoldus and Johannes Nicholas De Beer - sold the land. They moved on, but their family name - with an "s" added - has remained associated with the diamond trade via a company that subsequently bought the site.
De Beers has been accused of building a monopoly and controlling the supply of diamonds for decades by mining its own gems while also buying diamonds from other producers. In 2004, The New York Times reported, the company agreed to plead guilty to criminal price fixing in order to return to the market in the United States.
Its "central selling organisation" controlled about 90 per cent of the world's diamonds at one time, according to a Bloomberg Businessweek report. Historically, the company used this hegemonic position to force producers to fall in with its strategy.
For instance, if diamonds were discovered in Zambia and the producers did not want to sell through De Beers, then, when De Beers was really powerful, it could say "really?" explains Jean-Pierre Benoit, a micro economist at London Business School.
He adds that De Beers would have then threatened to flood the market using its stockpile of diamonds to drive prices down.
This kind of strategy, in addition to its successful "diamonds are forever" advertising campaign, helped De Beers to keep prices artificially high, according to Mr Benoit, although the gems were not particularly scarce.
In a statement, De Beers said, “Diamonds are most definitely rare; and getting rarer.”
About a decade ago, De Beers lost its grip on the trade with the emergence of independent mines.
Mr Benoit says theoretically this meant that diamond prices should have dropped, and a few years ago they did. "In the last three years, diamond prices fell by about 20 per cent," says Ashraf Ahmed, the managing director of Diamond Infinity, a dealership in Dubai.
But diamond prices have since recovered, he says. And Mr Ahmed expects them to increase further because, in a twist, the supply of the gems finally seems to be dwindling.
"We have been hearing a lot of rumours that the supply of diamonds over the next 10 years is going to diminish, [but] not diminish to zero," says Mr Ahmed. "But it will be very restricted, because the supply coming from the mines is slowing down now." he adds.
No major new diamond deposits have been discovered since a 1997 find in Zimbabwe, according to a Reuters report.
The appetite for diamonds in China and India will fuel demand for the gems by more than 6 per cent a year over the next decade, far outpacing supply, according to a report released in December by the management consultancy Bain & Company.
News of the apparent slowdown is making many buyers nervous, and has led to some larger-than-normal purchases by Diamond Infinity customers of late. An investor in Kuwait has just bought a pair of four-carat gems, for example, and the company recently helped an investor raise a US$15 million (Dh55m) diamond fund.
De Beers's biggest competitor now, according to Mr Ahmed, is Kristall, a Russian government-run factory.
Diamonds from Russia tend to be a better colour and clearer because they have been formed under ice in Siberia.
"(Kristall has) been around for quite some time. I think the Russian government started to exploit the diamond market only about 20 years ago," Mr Ahmed says, "and then the fruits came about a decade back."
gduncan@thenational.ae
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
City's slump
L - Juventus, 2-0
D - C Palace, 2-2
W - N Forest, 3-0
L - Liverpool, 2-0
D - Feyenoord, 3-3
L - Tottenham, 4-0
L - Brighton, 2-1
L - Sporting, 4-1
L - Bournemouth, 2-1
L - Tottenham, 2-1
More coverage from the Future Forum
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Revibe%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202022%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Hamza%20Iraqui%20and%20Abdessamad%20Ben%20Zakour%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20UAE%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Refurbished%20electronics%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunds%20raised%20so%20far%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%2410m%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFlat6Labs%2C%20Resonance%20and%20various%20others%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Tell-tale signs of burnout
- loss of confidence and appetite
- irritability and emotional outbursts
- sadness
- persistent physical ailments such as headaches, frequent infections and fatigue
- substance abuse, such as smoking or drinking more
- impaired judgement
- excessive and continuous worrying
- irregular sleep patterns
Tips to help overcome burnout
Acknowledge how you are feeling by listening to your warning signs. Set boundaries and learn to say ‘no’
Do activities that you want to do as well as things you have to do
Undertake at least 30 minutes of exercise per day. It releases an abundance of feel-good hormones
Find your form of relaxation and make time for it each day e.g. soothing music, reading or mindful meditation
Sleep and wake at the same time every day, even if your sleep pattern was disrupted. Without enough sleep condition such as stress, anxiety and depression can thrive.
Brief scores:
Liverpool 3
Mane 24', Shaqiri 73', 80'
Manchester United 1
Lingard 33'
Man of the Match: Fabinho (Liverpool)
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Company Fact Box
Company name/date started: Abwaab Technologies / September 2019
Founders: Hamdi Tabbaa, co-founder and CEO. Hussein Alsarabi, co-founder and CTO
Based: Amman, Jordan
Sector: Education Technology
Size (employees/revenue): Total team size: 65. Full-time employees: 25. Revenue undisclosed
Stage: early-stage startup
Investors: Adam Tech Ventures, Endure Capital, Equitrust, the World Bank-backed Innovative Startups SMEs Fund, a London investment fund, a number of former and current executives from Uber and Netflix, among others.
Jigra
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
The Disaster Artist
Director: James Franco
Starring: James Franco, Dave Franco, Seth Rogan
Four stars
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
