According to Statista, the market value of lab-grown diamonds amounted to more than $20 billion (R362.25 billion) in 2021 and is expected to grow to nearly $52 billion (R941.86 billion) by 2030. In 2018, DeBeers introduced a new jewellery company called Lightbox. The brand was solely for lab-grown diamonds (synthetic diamonds) at lower prices with the aim to create a clear divide in consumers’ minds. In what was an attempt to grow the business, it turned out not so great because they started losing out on demand in real diamond. Lerato Mbele was in conversation with Kealeboga Pule, founder & managing director of Nungu Diamonds and Axolisiwe Mbontsi, founder & CEO of Axel Diamonds.