Kassim Basma is a multimillionaire Sierra Leonean businessman and the second leading diamond

Diamond

In mineralogy, diamond is an allotrope of carbon, where the carbon atoms are arranged in a variation of the face-centered cubic crystal structure called a diamond lattice. Diamond is less stable than graphite, but the conversion rate from diamond to graphite is negligible at ambient conditions...

 exporter from Sierra Leone, accounting for around 38% of all official Sierra Leone diamond exports. Basma was born in Kono District

Kono District

Kono District is a district in the Eastern Province of Sierra Leone. Its capital and largest city is Koidu Town. The other major towns in the district include Yengema, Tombodu, Motema, Jaiama-Nimokoro and Sewafe. Kono District is the largest diamond producer in Sierra Leone.The population of Kono...

 in Eastern Sierra Leone. He was born into a family of Lebanese

Lebanese people

The Lebanese people are a nation and ethnic group of Levantine people originating in what is today the country of Lebanon, including those who had inhabited Mount Lebanon prior to the creation of the modern Lebanese state....

 descent

Cultural heritage

Cultural heritage is the legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes of a group or society that are inherited from past generations, maintained in the present and bestowed for the benefit of future generations...

 from the southern Lebanese village of Ain Baal

Ain Baal

Ain Baal is a Lebanese village located in the Caza of Tyre in the Southern Governorate of Lebanon.-Origin of name:According to the Lebanese dialect, the name of the village means "the water well of Baal".-About Ain Baal:...

. He is a member of the Basma family, one the oldest families of Lebanese descent in Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has an estimated population between 5.4 and 6.4...

.

External links

• http://awoko.org/index.php?mact=News,cntnt01,detail,0&cntnt01articleid=1405&cntnt01returnid=15