Maarten de Witte - The Diamond Wizard

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"Availability of funding for graduate school was the reason I studied geography," says Maarten de Witte, a Diamond Broker and Technical Supervisor for Hearts on Fire Diamonds, "Originally, I planned to study development economics with funding through a foreign language studies grant, however I wasn't accepted in an economics program, so an advisor suggested that I consider the discipline of geography." Today, de Witte has a master's degree in economic geography. "As an undergraduate I studied history - specifically southern African history," says de Witte, " I was interested in how these countries had used their mineral resources to promote economic development."

"The fact that I am a master diamond cutter has sustained me in the diamond industry, but having a background in geography hasn't hurt one bit," says de Witte, " In fact, my focus on historical and geographic studies about diamonds has really helped me."

"Our company has created a brand name diamond, Hearts on Fire, that is technologically the best cut round brilliant diamond in the marketplace today," says de Witte, "Our marketing strategy includes granting exclusive areas for retail distribution in order to maintain profitability." De Witte uses computerized Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to determine good locations for retail outlets as well as to prevent overlapping distributorships.

"There is a huge geographic component to achieving our goals," says de Witte, "But, a GIS specialist would have virtually no idea how we conduct our daily diamond business and our diamond experts have little idea how to make sophisticated location decisions."

De Witte has found himself to be the "ideal" go between. "I wear a lot of hats in the office and I'm one of the few in the (diamond) business who can do that," says de Witte, "I don't know of any other geographer/diamond cutters in the industry." Because location analysis is a very important part of de Witte's business, he regularly consults with GIS experts.

"I see GIS as being one of our most powerful tools in location decision making," says de Witte, "There is a lot of potential for growth in our business because of its national as well as international scope and GIS will be increasingly important to our continued success."

"Although I am trained in history, geography and economics, " says de Witte, "I feel the most critical and practical of these fields is geography because it offers a distinct spatial perspective that is useful across all industries."

From his vantage point in the diamond industry, de Witte has a unique perspective on the skills that geography students need to be competitive in the workplace. "I'd encourage students to study geography because as travel times become shorter the world is becoming a smaller place and we need to better understand different places and different cultures, " says de Witte, "Rudimentary geographic knowledge is essential if you want to get by in this world."

Geography has opened a world of possibilities for de Witte. "I stumbled into geography very much through the back door and found it to be an all-encompassing discipline -- In my mind geography is the ultimate field - you name it there is a geographic twist to it," says de Witte, "Everything I do is geography from minerals to market."

Maarten de Witte is redefining the face of geography with his work in the diamond industry and adding to the facets of geography's brilliant shine.

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