Namib Desert Diamonds (NAMDIA) founding Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Kennedy Hamutenya is set to exit the diamond sales and marketing company after the expiry of his 5-year term.
The state-owned diamond company’s General Manager of Sales and Marketing, Lelly Usiku, will take over the reins in an acting capacity until a substantive CEO is appointed.
Hamutenya was appointed in July 2017 to lead NAMDIA on a five-year term after having been headhunted from the Ministry of Mines and Energy where he was the Diamond Commissioner and was the principal advisor to the Namibian Government on diamond policy.
He was a key player in the negotiations between the Namibian Government and De Beers, which resulted in the signing of the Diamond Sales and Marketing Agreement in May 2016.
NAMDIA was established out of an agreement between the government and De Beers in 2016, to verify whether Namibia was getting the best value of its diamonds by going onto the open market.
The Leadership changes at NAMDIA comes as the diamond company in March announced a new client list for the next three-year cycle.
The finalized list of 36 companies is made of companies from Belgium and the United Arab Emirates, India, Israel, the United States of America and two companies from Namibia.
