International Benefit Dinner Raises over
$1 million for the Diamond Empowerment Fund

LONDON, 9th November 2010: On Monday, November 8, the Diamond Empowerment Fund (D.E.F), along with luminaries from the diamond industry and beneficiaries of D.E.F, gathered at the Banqueting House to raise more than $1 million through the cause’s first international fundraising event, DEF London: Diamonds in the Sky.

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Co-chairs Varda Shine (CEO of the Diamond Trading Company, DTC) and Anna Martin (Managing Director, Diamonds & Jewellery, Standard Chartered), along with Nicky Oppenheimer (Chairman of De Beers), V. Shankar (CEO – Europe, Middle East, Africa and Americas, Standard Chartered), Russell Simmons (Chairman and CEO of Rush Communications and co-founder of the D.E.F), Dr. Benjamin Chavis (Co-President of the D.E.F), the D.E.F’s Africa’s Angels, Nicola Breytenbach-Steiner and Flaviana Matata, among others, joined together for one night to support the D.E.F’s mission to raise awareness and support for the empowerment and education of African youth in nations where diamonds are a natural resource.

At the sold-out glittering gala dinner and live auction, Nicky Oppenheimer, the Chairman of De Beers and Peter Sands, Group Chief Executive, Standard Chartered, were honored by D.E.F.for their leadership and strong commitment to corporate social responsibility, Russell Simmons surprised and honored the Managing Director of Diamond Trading Company International, Varda Shine with a ‘Humanitarian of the Year 2010′ and attendees were able to hear speeches from three students who have directly benefited from the Diamond Empowerment Fund.

The live auction, MC’d by Tim Dabson of DTC, raised more than $500,000 with spectacular lots including diamond jewellery, travel packages, sports packages, and a unique modeling session with Africa’s Angel Flaviana Matata, and attendees were given the unique chance to create history by ‘opening’ the first DTC Sight of 2011. Review the DEF London Programme Journal to learn more about all of our special guests and browse our patrons ads:

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For more information about DEF London: Diamonds in the Sky, please visit the event invitation.

D.E.F. would like to thank the following D.E.F. London sponsors:

About the Diamond Empowerment Fund® (D.E.F.)
Founded and based in the United States since 2007, the non-profit Diamond Empowerment Fund’s mission is to raise monies to go towards supporting education initiatives that will change the lives of African communities based around diamond mines alongside education for Africa. The D.E.F has two named beneficiary organizations, CIDA City Campus and African Leadership Academy, both models for access to higher education in Johannesburg, South Africa. Sixty percent of the world’s diamonds come from Sub-Saharan Africa. In a land rich in diamonds, D.E.F.’s goal is to help Africa’s most precious diamonds – its youth – have greater educational opportunities that lead to personal and economic empowerment. www.diamondempowerment.org.

Press Contact:
Lacy Pica / Randi Friedman
pmk*bnc
lacy.pica@pmkbnc.com / randi.friedman@pmkbnc.com
212.582.1111