In September 2011, as part of the "Diamonds in the Sky" event, the Diamond Trading Company (DTC) auctioned the opportunity to open the first DTC sight of 2012 in London, Rapaport reports. Funds from that auction went to support both the Diamond Empowerment Fund (DEF) and the China Charity Federation (CCF) non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Lalji Patel, the group chairman of sightholder Dharmanandan Diamonds, won the bid, opened the DTC sight on Monday and also received an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour of the DTC.
Patel said, ''The vision and values of both NGOs benefitting from the ‘Diamonds in the Sky’ auction fit perfectly with our own. Our Dharmanandan Charitable Trust acts as a catalyst and a caring hand for inclusive development and aligns with our mission of 'Shaping a Better Tomorrow.' Our company has an integrated corporate social responsibility program both for the benefit of our employees as well as for the benefit of the communities in which we operate. We contribute significantly in areas of education and medication. We have built two schools in rural areas and are firmly committed to the development of our youth, and are very excited to have had the opportunity to support the empowerment of the next generation in southern Africa and China too.''
Varda Shine, the chief executive of DTC, added, ''Our sightholder community are global leaders in social investment, and Dharmanandan demonstrated its alignment with our own DTC beneficiation objectives in supporting empowerment and development opportunities for youth around the globe.''
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