Leadership Centre

Mmegi Online - March 10, 2010

Safdico is actively looking to develop a second Graff leadership centre in Botswana, home to its latest state of the art facility and the world's biggest producer of diamonds.

This follows the opening of a first Graff Leadership Centre in Lesotho recently in which His Majesty King Letsie III preside at the official opening ceremony on 6 March 2010.

The centre provides a wonderful, Afro-centred library and training facilities for children, youth and adults in a multitude of programs, including pre-employment skills. The second floor of the building is a hostel for fifty young girls in a leadership program to develop peer leaders in their villages. Thousands of youth will benefit from this outstanding community resource.

"We would like to give something back to the country which gives us our remarkable diamonds" says Laurence Graff.
Graff is the majority shareholders in Safdico, which is a Diamond Trading Company Botswana(DTCB) client and has offices in South Africa, Botswana, Mauritius, Geneva, New York and Antwerp.

"There is such appalling poverty and hunger in Southern Africa, yet with more help from donations the situation will begin to improve."
To this end, he has set up a charity called F.A.C.E.T. (For Africa's Children Every Time). The charity functions as aeducation, health and wellbeing of the children of Africa from where Safdico, Graff's sister company, sources many of its beautiful stones.

Hunger and poverty have occurred partly because of the HIV/Aids pandemic which has wiped out almost a generation of parents and workers in Africa. This has left their children alone and vulnerable, without funds to buy food or be educated to pursue a normal life; in fact it is estimated that some 1000 children join the statistics each day - either because a parent has died or is unable to care for them due to illness.
However, 90 percent of these children have a chance of living to adulthood - enjoying healthy lives and having careers, if they are given the right support and aid to do so.

To launch F.A.C.E.T. Laurence Graff donated US $1m and continues to support with further donations.
Fundraising events, such as art auctions featuring his collected South African artists alongside globally recognised names, are planned in the countries where Graff International operates.