In 1967, the year after Botswana gained its independence from Britain, a huge diamond mine was discovered in a remote area called Orapa, about 250 miles from the capital city of Gaborone. The company that found the mine was De Beers, which was then — as it is now — the dominant seller of “rough stones” in the world. Four years and $33 million later, the mine was ready for production.

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Practically from the start, De Beers entered into a 50-50 joint venture with the government of Botswana.

The country’s president, Seretse Khama, officiated at the opening.

In the early years of its nationhood, Botswana was one of the poorest countries in the world, with a per capita income of about $80 a year. Today, it is among the most prosperous countries in Africa, with a real middle class, and a per capita income approaching $6,000 a year. By contrast, the average citizen in Angola earns about $2,500 a year, while in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, it’s a little more than $1,500, according to the World Bank.

There is no question that the discovery of diamonds was the most important catalyst in Botswana’s economic growth. Prior to the discovery, Botswana had an agricultural economy. By the early 1980s, however, Edward Jay Epstein could report in his book, “The Rise and Fall of Diamonds,” that diamond, manganese and copper mines controlled by De Beers accounted for fully 50 percent of the country’s gross domestic product. Though the Botswana economy has since diversified somewhat, the operations of De Beers still account for around a third of the country’s gross domestic product.

There is also no question, though, that Botswana was greatly aided by something else: De Beers’s own sense of — to use the current term of art — corporate social responsibility. Unlike most big companies that have exploited Africa’s resources over the course of its tragic history — indeed, unlike most Chinese companies operating in Africa today — De Beers did not simply plunder Botswana. Practically from the start, it entered into a 50-50 joint venture with the government; about a decade ago, it also sold the government a 15 percent stake in the company. (De Beers has only two other shareholders: the South African-based Oppenheimer family, which has controlled the company for over 100 years, and the publicly traded Anglo-American Corporation.)

It has also built roads, hospitals and schools in Botswana; worked to help the country deal with H.I.V. and AIDS; and been involved in and paid for a hundred other things that have helped make Botswana an African success story. Most of the executives in the government-company joint venture are black Africans who have been trained by De Beers. In March, the company closed its diamond sorting facility in London, and opened the largest, most technologically advanced diamond sorting complex in the world in Gaborone. It employs 600 people and is also part of the company’s 50-50 joint venture with the government.

“We think our approach is a competitive advantage,” said Gareth Penny, the cherubic 45-year-old South African who has been the company’s chief executive since 2006. It’s hard to disagree. Botswana’s citizens need roads — but so does De Beers, to transport its diamonds. De Beers needs a healthy work force, so its emphasis on H.I.V. awareness and treatment is clearly in its self interest. Indeed, a more prosperous Botswana helps De Beers in every way imaginable, not least by providing a stable environment in which it can do business. “The country can now attract banks and service industries — and avoid the natural resource curse,” Mr. Penny told me.

In the two years he’s been the chief executive, Mr. Penny has become a proselytizer for what he likes to call “beneficiation” — which is a fancy word for doing well while doing good. I heard him make a speech in Washington a few months ago, in which he repeatedly used the Botswana example and to a less extent Namibia, where De Beers has a number of similar programs, to show what socially responsible companies can accomplish in Africa. He went on to say that every company doing business in Africa needed to practice this kind of enlightened stewardship if it hoped to succeed over the long haul.

So why don’t they?

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The transformation of De Beers over the past decade or so is a remarkable, little-known story. For decades, the company had been an unapologetic monopolist, working to keep diamond prices high by controlling supply. It had offices all over Africa — indeed, all over the world — that bought up the vast majority of rough stones as they were mined. It held onto the excess supply, and sold to diamond merchants and traders only enough product to meet demand. Its business model created the perception of scarcity — a necessity in no small part because diamonds are not, in fact, scarce.