Speakers

My diamond journey began about 20 years ago when I travelled to Africa to open a rough diamond buying office outside the Williamson Mine in Tanzania. Here we supported artisanal miners and purchased rough diamonds from them. After spending the best part of two years in Africa, I moved back to Europe and embarked on a career in the polished side of the business in Antwerp, Belgium. During my time in Antwerp, I worked for various Sightholders, supplying some of the top Jewellery Houses. I was able to gain a huge amount of experience during this time, and create a crucial network of relationships as I honed my skill and craft. Some years later, I began working on a project to create the World’s first electronic diamond exchange, DODAQ. DODAQ was an anonymous trading platform where buyers and sellers could trade polished diamonds, in much the same way as buying stocks and shares. As the original “market disruptors,” DODAQ was a great journey, and a wonderful experience. We were certainly ahead of our time, but unfortunately, as with many businesses in that era, we came up against the financial market crash and I subsequently moved back to the UK. In 2010, I created Salotro, a diamond trading company that focused on servicing jewellers and jewellery manufactures. Moving back to London where I was born, I needed to integrate myself in the market in the UK, as both a buyer and seller, so I decided to become a member of the London Diamond Bourse and base myself in their trading hall. After years of trading out of the London Diamond Bourse, I eventually moved into the office I am still based in today. Those initial years in the Bourse were invaluable to establishing myself in the UK trade, and is part of the reason why I am so passionate about the Bourse still. I am currently a Board Member of the Young Diamantaires Group. The Young Diamantaires started as a networking group, where young industry folk could meet together and discuss industry topics, and it has now grown to over 500 members. The YD’s plan incredible industry led trips, and I was lucky enough to go with a handful of other Young Diamantaires to visit the De Beers Venetian diamond Mine in South Africa a few years ago and more recently visit India with the group too. We are in touch most days via their very active WhatsApp groups. Last year I started CiviGem a community platform for organisations within the Diamond and Jewellery Industry. We foster unity and community engagement. CiviGem helps to strengthen relationships, enhance brand visibility, and drive revenue growth, whilst benefitting individuals with a supportive environment for learning, connecting, and thriving. I became Vice President of the London Diamond Bourse two years ago, until earlier this year, when I became joint President with, my now predecessor, Alan Cohen. We served six months together before I was voted in as President for a full term, during our May AGM. This allowed me to learn the role first-hand and create an outline of what my agenda for the London Diamond Bourse is today.