These funds facilitate enterprise development, employment, economic diversification and alternative livelihoods that last post-mining.

Each of the funds is operated as a separate business with its own corporate governance structures. They also submit accounts and annual reports on performance to their respective shareholders.

In addition to investing capital, the funds provide the companies they invest in with advice and mentoring. This includes skills development relating to project and personnel management, finance techniques and business procedures.

The provision of skills development is vital to avoid the high failure rate typically associated with small businesses. It has helped build a portfolio of investments in line with international norms of small and medium business sustainability.

Peo Venture Capital
Peo (“seed”) is a 50/50 joint venture between Debswana and De Beers Botswana.Peo is managed by De Beers Botswana with guidance from the Debswana supply chain function. Since its inception in 1997, Peo has assisted in the establishment of 60 businesses and has invested a total of US$5.2 million (US$4 million in loans and US$1.2 million in equity). It has also created employment for 1,360 Batswana.

Oshipe Development Fund
Oshipe is a wholly owned subsidiary of Namdeb that aims to promote and facilitate the sustainable development and growth of local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Preference is given to SMEs partly or wholly owned by Historically Disadvantaged Namibians and also to those businesses that operate in or around our mining towns. Affiliation between Oshipe funded projects and our mine closure plan in Oranjemund, for example, is considered key to economic development post mining. Since its inception in 2005, Oshipe has made 17 investments totalling US$1.1 million. 

De Beers Zimele
De Beers Zimele is based on Anglo American’s internationally recognised Zimele model. It replaces De Beers Matlafalang as our main enterprise development vehicle in South Africa. De Beers Zimele provides loan funding,
the transfer of business skills, mentoring and support, aims to help drive Black Economic Empowerment and fight poverty through the creation of sustainable SMEs. It hopes to create 25,000 employment positions over the next five to seven years.

In 2009, Zimele was piloted in Kimberley due to our longstanding association with the area and is planned for roll-out to other operations once the “small business hub” in Kimberley is fully established. De Beers Zimele is, for example, exploring opportunities for promoting enterprise development as part of the Living Edge of Africa Project in Namaqualand. In 2009, De Beers invested a total of US$0.5 million in De Beers Zimele. Plans are in place for a significant expansion of the De Beers Zimele portfolio, with a target of 30 supported businesses by the end of 2010.