WE meet Botswana institutions and financial players. I worry that we're European, male and middle-aged.

Yet the diverse locals welcome us.

We need to deepen our roots and grow local talent. We work with locals where possible: employing and partnering them, even listing on their stock exchange where practical.

They understand diamonds and realise that Botswana is low risk - international players tar regions with the same brush. Botswana proves that Africa can work if you've good government and encourage enterprise. Local investors are longer term and more pleasant than Europeans, though sometimes optimistic to the point of complacency. Many westerners, especially private punters, flip between euphoria and depression.

The threat of synthetic diamonds arises. But laboratory diamonds seem to have less impact than 'cultured pearls'. They act as a cheap entry level purchase but lack the mystique of the real thing.

Dr O'Connell, whose family hails from Munster via South Africa, asked about major threats. A world economic depression, we respond.

Marketers created the Japanese diamond market by reshaping courtship rituals, but demand later collapsed with Japanese markets generally. Many Japanese now consider diamonds fuddy-duddy.

29 March, Gaborone Joint Venture meetings with De Beers generate a sense of history, based on cooperation rather than competition. They are expert and thorough: providing printed stationery, engraved pencils and a glossary of local words.

De Beers made diamonds symbolic of courtship itself: a lady's feigned surprise at receiving gems achieves the same accommodating dissonance as with seduction:

women can pretend they didn't share the decision. It's hard to sell a stone invested with such emotion.

An Irish-American, Frances Gerety, created many of their marketing techniques, including the greatest slogan ever - 'a diamond is forever'. She suffered creative block before deadline, prayed for inspiration and awoke with the slogan. We should all use our unconscious minds.

We are impatient to start production. When does thoroughness become analysis paralysis? What is the value of perfect information? Statisticians seek perfection. We focus on value rather than theory. Excessive concern for collaboration and consensus can lead to a 'social club' which is pleasant but not productive.

The African bush: 1 to 9 April Few jobs allow you to walk the wilderness and see mines (hopefully not explosive! ) Africa is chaotic, pungent, colourful and friendly.

Nature has many niches: Different species can cooperate, as when birds pick left-overs from a crocodile's teeth.

Risks are managed by cooperation. Fleeing zebras weave to 'dazzle' predators and distract attention from vulnerable young.

Lions are opportunists: even when sated they kill. Five hyenas can't match an adult male. Hyenas steal or kill the weak. Individuals boost effectiveness by cooperation - trade unionists of the bush. Baboons can't fight like big cats but they're adaptable. They nurture their own and snarl at everybody else. They're professionals.

Monkeys are agile and daring:

they hide around villages hoping to steal. They're entrepreneurs. Hippos mimic the state sector: they're large, usually do nothing but are vicious if intruders appear in their territory.

Crocodiles are nature's regulators;

they rarely exert themselves, kill only by drowning victims already in their jaws. Crocs have a powerful bite but shy away from whacks on the nose.

Niche players like leopard or cheetah are the jungle's Anglo-Irish Bank, reacting faster than bigger cats.

An elephant's career is low-risk, with no natural predators. But with size comes inefficiency. They digest about half of the 200kg of vegetation they eat daily. So nutritious are the half-digested droppings that dung beetles survive on them. Dominant males enjoy exclusive access to females. But market dominance is temporary. Even unsuccessful challenges can weaken rulers.

The system is unstable: antelope numbers surge after rains. Predator populations then rise. Eventually the boom turns to bust, exacerbated by a temporary abundance of carnivores. Even the natural world has business cycles. Like markets, nature isn't in equilibrium. Things tend to excess, then over-correct.

There are many ways to compete.

Sometimes cooperation is as important as competing: ruminants often graze together though they compete for vegetation. You won't survive to enjoy extra grass if predators kill you.

Humans' competitive advantage is thought: we are not big, strong or fast. We are not the only tool-makers.

But we adapt. Entrepreneurs chase a lot of prey and occasionally catch the old, very young or sick.