Okavango Diamond Company Head Masire Steps Down

By Rob Bates | November 21, 2025

Mmetla Masire (left), who has served as managing director of Botswana’s state-owned Okavango Diamond Company (ODC) since 2021, will leave his job at the end of the month.

“The separation is an amicable and mutually agreed decision, undertaken as ODC advances to the next phase of its strategic journey,” according to an ODC post on LinkedIn.

Lipalesa Makepe, Okavango’s chief financial officer, has been appointed acting managing director.

ODC’s LinkedIn statement hailed Masire for helping it achieve its highest revenue ever in fiscal 2022 and 2023, as well as “the execution of a fit-for-purpose organizational structure and diversification of ODC’s sales channels.”

Masire has been a regular visitor to the JCK show and was interviewed by JCK earlier this year.

The new contract signed last winter by De Beers and Botswana calls for Okavango to sell 50% of the country’s output by the end of the decade.

Before coming to ODC, Masire was permanent secretary at Botswana’s ministry of mineral resources and green technology. He has also served as CEO of Botswana’s Water Utilities Corporation and a project manager at Debswana, the De Beers/Botswana joint venture.

(Photo courtesy of Okavango Diamond Company)