An Oppenheimer is forever

JOHANNESBURG – The great-grandson of the man who shaped the world’s most powerful diamond company has taken one step closer to the throne by becoming the managing director of De Beers’ operations in South Africa.

Jonathan Oppenheimer, 34, spent most of his day on the new job on Thursday talking to the media, a sign of the keen interest still generated by South Africa’s richest family. Getting this job is an enormous honour for me.I suppose it ranks up there with getting married,” Oppenheimer said of his new position managing De Beers Consolidated Mines (DBCM), the company that runs the seven South African diamond mines in the De Beers stable.My new job is fundamentally to co-ordinate and facilitate the underlying operation at DBCM, not just making as much money as possible, but also ensuring that we do it in a responsible way that pays particular attention to our stakeholders including our employees,” he told AFP in a telephonic interview.Oppenheimer said he felt strongly about promoting “the integrity of the company, which we have successfully built over many years.””Whether it is our participation in the Kimberley process of diamond certification, promoting best practice and the warranties we supply as to the origins of our diamonds, we are a business which is on many levels dependent on our integrity,” he said.For many in South Africa, the rags-to-riches saga of the Oppenheimers – who now own almost half of De Beers and are major shareholders in Anglo American, which owns almost the other half of the diamond company – is the embodiment of the South African dream.Like thousands of other adventure-seekers, a young but ambitious Ernest Oppenheimer travelled to South Africa in 1902 to take over a diamond-sorting operation in the rough-house mining town of Kimberley.The family’s long dominance of De Beers started in July 1926, when Ernest Oppenheimer became the newest member elected to its board.That association came full circle in May 2001 when De Beers’ shareholders approved a multi-billion-dollar buy-out, giving the family almost half the stake in the now private company.Although private, Oppenheimer is keen to stress De Beers’ commitment to South Africa.”We are enormously excited about the prospects for South Africa,” he said.”You only have to look at our macro-economic discipline and our history of the last ten years since 1994 to see a country that has been as disciplined, if not more disciplined than most first world countries.”Last year, South African President Thabo Mbeki patted the family on the back for launching a plan to aid racial diversity to the economy, but critics have said the move was merely bolstering the black elite.The Brenthurst Initiative plan proposes a black empowerment scorecard, creating corporate tax breaks for those who transform effectively and find ways to fund black empowerment vehicles.One of the goals of the initiative is to have blacks own 25 per cent of the companies listed on the Johannesburg stock exchange, which it estimates would cost around 200 billion rand (N$200 billion, 27 billion US dollars, 23 billion euros).Oppenheimer said one of the greatest achievements of the initiative, named after the family’s sprawling homestead, was “the willingness to listen (by government), which we found enormously encouraging and rewarding.”Internationally, the outlook is also rosy.”The diamond industry continues to be remarkably robust and we here at De Beers are quietly optimistic about a very good year.”A long-time cloud over business in the United States, where direct operations are forbidden, may also soon pass with July 13 set down for talks to solve the issue, said Oppenheimer.De Beers could soon be back in business where its executives are still subject to arrest.Although being modest about his ambition to eventually lead the company, it is clear that Jonathan Oppenheimer is walking the same road as his father Nicky and his grandfather Harry, the son of Sir Ernest Oppenheimer.”I certainly have an ambition to lead De Beers, but that ambition is absolutely the same ambition I’m sure many other people have,” he said.”I think my track record speaks for itself.I would feel enormously uncomfortable if I thought I got a single position through a title.”- Nampa-AFPGetting this job is an enormous honour for me.I suppose it ranks up there with getting married,” Oppenheimer said of his new position managing De Beers Consolidated Mines (DBCM), the company that runs the seven South African diamond mines in the De Beers stable.My new job is fundamentally to co-ordinate and facilitate the underlying operation at DBCM, not just making as much money as possible, but also ensuring that we do it in a responsible way that pays particular attention to our stakeholders including our employees,” he told AFP in a telephonic interview.Oppenheimer said he felt strongly about promoting “the integrity of the company, which we have successfully built over many years.””Whether it is our participation in the Kimberley process of diamond certification, promoting best practice and the warranties we supply as to the origins of our diamonds, we are a business which is on many levels dependent on our integrity,” he said.For many in South Africa, the rags-to-riches saga of the Oppenheimers – who now own almost half of De Beers and are major shareholders in Anglo American, which owns almost the other half of the diamond company – is the embodiment of the South African dream.Like thousands of other adventure-seekers, a young but ambitious Ernest Oppenheimer travelled to South Africa in 1902 to take over a diamond-sorting operation in the rough-house mining town of Kimberley.The family’s long dominance of De Beers started in July 1926, when Ernest Oppenheimer became the newest member elected to its board.That association came full circle in May 2001 when De Beers’ shareholders approved a multi-billion-dollar buy-out, giving the family almost half the stake in the now private company.Although private, Oppenheimer is keen to stress De Beers’ commitment to South Africa.”We are enormously excited about the prospects for South Africa,” he said.”You only have to look at our macro-economic discipline and our history of the last ten years since 1994 to see a country that has been as disciplined, if not more disciplined than most first world countries.”Last year, South African President Thabo Mbeki patted the family on the back for launching a plan to aid racial diversity to the economy, but critics have said the move was merely bolstering the black elite.The Brenthurst Initiative plan proposes a black empowerment scorecard, creating corporate tax breaks for those who transform effectively and find ways to fund black empowerment vehicles.One of the goals of the initiative is to have blacks own 25 per cent of the companies listed on the Johannesburg stock exchange, which it estimates would cost around 200 billion rand (N$200 billion, 27 billion US dollars, 23 billion euros).Oppenheimer said one of the greatest achievements of the initiative, named after the family’s sprawling homestead, was “the willingness to listen (by government), which we found enormously encouraging and rewarding.”Internationally, the outlook is also rosy.”The diamond industry continues to be remarkably robust and we here at De Beers are quietly optimistic about a very good year.”A long-time cloud over business in the United States, where direct operations are forbidden, may also soon pass with July 13 set down for talks to solve the issue, said Oppenheimer.De Beers could soon be back in business where its executives are still subject to arrest.Although being modest about his ambition to eventually lead the company, it is clear that Jonathan Oppenheimer is walking the same road as his father Nicky and his grandfather Harry, the son of Sir Ernest Oppenheimer.”I certainly have an ambition to lead De Beers, but that ambition is absolutely the same ambition I’m sure many other people have,” he said.”I think my track record speaks for itself.I would feel enormously uncomfortable if I thought I got a single position through a title.”- Nampa-AFP