De Beers funds northern campus

De Beers funds northern campus

TSUMEB – The Chairman of De Beers, Nicky Oppenheimer, and the Minister of Mines and Energy, Erkki Nghimtina, officially opened the second campus of the Namibia Institute of Mining and Technology (NIMT) with funding from the De Beers group to the tune of N$2,1 million at Tsumeb on Thursday.

At the same occasion, the Namibia De Beers Fund, through which De Beers will support corporate social investment in the country, was launched with NIMT being the first beneficiary of the fund. Speaking at the ceremony, Oppenheimer said there is no greater asset to a country than people with skills and expertise.”In De Beers, we make constant effort to ensure that our business philosophy is fully aligned with the aspirations and dreams of the communities in which we operate.We are very well aware of Namibia’s Vision 2030, an admirable ambitious plan aimed to ensure that by 2030 Namibia will have a standard of living that is equal to its counterparts in the developed world.To achieve this, there is no greater catalyst than developing the human gems of Namibia, its people,” said Oppenheimer.He said it is for this reason that De Beers has taken the opportunity to be partners with NIMT in realising the establishment of the said campus in Tsumeb, which is clearly the gateway to the far north of Namibia where the majority of the population lives.He added that since De Beers is in the business of mining and selling diamonds, it was seen as fitting to seek partnerships with institutions like NIMT.On the launch of the fund, Oppenheimer said since the establishment of Namdeb in 2004, De Beers has been channelling its Corporate Social Investment (CSI) through the Namdeb Social Fund.”It is for this reason that we see it fit to reintroduce a De Beers vehicle for CSI, which we call the De Beers Namibia Fund.This fund will be the official vehicle through which we will support charitable causes with special emphasis on education.In fact the support for NIMT here today is being done as our first donation by the De Beers Fund,” said Oppenheimer.Minister Nghimtina commended the De Beers group for the initiative, saying education is the most important aspect of all and the people constantly place demand on government to increase skills development.”It does not matter how much deposit of diamonds, copper, zinc or uranium in possession of our country if we do not have an educated nation or nation that is equipped with the necessary skills to facilitate production activities.All these will mean nothing,” said Nghimtina.NampaSpeaking at the ceremony, Oppenheimer said there is no greater asset to a country than people with skills and expertise.”In De Beers, we make constant effort to ensure that our business philosophy is fully aligned with the aspirations and dreams of the communities in which we operate.We are very well aware of Namibia’s Vision 2030, an admirable ambitious plan aimed to ensure that by 2030 Namibia will have a standard of living that is equal to its counterparts in the developed world.To achieve this, there is no greater catalyst than developing the human gems of Namibia, its people,” said Oppenheimer.He said it is for this reason that De Beers has taken the opportunity to be partners with NIMT in realising the establishment of the said campus in Tsumeb, which is clearly the gateway to the far north of Namibia where the majority of the population lives.He added that since De Beers is in the business of mining and selling diamonds, it was seen as fitting to seek partnerships with institutions like NIMT.On the launch of the fund, Oppenheimer said since the establishment of Namdeb in 2004, De Beers has been channelling its Corporate Social Investment (CSI) through the Namdeb Social Fund.”It is for this reason that we see it fit to reintroduce a De Beers vehicle for CSI, which we call the De Beers Namibia Fund.This fund will be the official vehicle through which we will support charitable causes with special emphasis on education.In fact the support for NIMT here today is being done as our first donation by the De Beers Fund,” said Oppenheimer.Minister Nghimtina commended the De Beers group for the initiative, saying education is the most important aspect of all and the people constantly place demand on government to increase skills development.”It does not matter how much deposit of diamonds, copper, zinc or uranium in possession of our country if we do not have an educated nation or nation that is equipped with the necessary skills to facilitate production activities.All these will mean nothing,” said Nghimtina.Nampa

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