Isabel dos Santos
Isabel José dos Santos (1973 in Baku, Azerbaijan SSR, USSR) is an Angolan investor.[1] She is considered by Forbes worth at least 170 million US Dollars [2] and as the most powerful and richest woman in her country and among the richest in Africa.[3]
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[edit] Family and Education
Isabel dos Santos is the eldest daughter of Angola's President José Eduardo dos Santos and Tatiana Kukanova from Azerbaijan, his first wife.[4] In London, where her mother now lives, she studied electrical engineering[5] and business management. There she met her husband from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sindika Dokolo,[6] the son of a millionaire from Kinshasa and his Danish wife. They married in 2003, in Luanda. The wedding, a 4 million-dollar party with 1000 guests, was one of the largest weddings in the history of the country. Reports in Portuguese newspapers said, that the guest were flown in from France and Portugal. Best man was the then Minister of Petroleum of Angola, Desidério Costa.
[edit] Business activities
Isabel dos Santos is described by the Portuguese newspaper Público as "a good business woman, extremely dynamic and intelligent, also a professional and friendly".[7]
At the age of 24, she joined the business and since then cleverly uses the influence of her father. She started in the capital Luanda, where - financially backed by her father - she founded Urbana 2000, a company that won the contract for cleaning and disinfection of the city. On Luanda Island, that is part of the bay of Luanda, she opened in 2006 the Miami Beach Club, one of the first night clubs in the capital.[8] Later she worked for Ascorp, the only legal trading company for diamonds in Angola. There she was a partner with Lev Leviev.[9]
Within short she assumed the key role in managing the family fortune amassed by her father. This led her to create several holdings, in Angola and abroad, and to make substantial investments in a series of entreprises, especially in Portugal.[10]
[edit] Investments in Portugal
Since 2008 she has relevant interests in telecommunications, media, retail, finance and the energy industry, both in Angola and in Portugal. In addition to her commercial interest in oil and diamonds, Isabel dos Santos also owns shares in the Angola cement company Nova Cimangola. Her husband is member of the board of the company but, more importantly, acquired the exploration rights of a subsidiary of Endiama, the Angolan state company for diamond exploration and sale. [11]
With the Kento Holding[12] based in Malta, Isabel dos Santos is shareholder of ZON Multimédia[13][14] and Portugal Telecom. She is also member of the board of Banco BIC Português[15] and through Santoro Holding holds stakes at Banco Português de Investimento[16][17], Banco Espirito Santo and Energias de Portugal. Other major stakes she has together with Angolan state oil company Sonangol through their mutual offshore holding named Esperanza Holding in Portuguese Galp Energia.[18] Counting together all of her financial interests, there is to be added Caixa Geral de Depósitos, Banco Santander Totta, Banco Português de Negócios, Mota-Engil as well as, since 2010/2011, the activities of Portuguese company Sonae in Angola.[19][20][21]
Together with her father, she constituted the Geni Holding,[22][23] as an umbrella for their Portuguese investments. The holding company is active in the banking, oil, diamonds and construction. The starting point, however, was the creation of Unitel in partnership with Portugal Telecom. In addition to Isabel dos Santos, Leopoldino Fragoso Nascimento, Anthony Van-Dunem and Manuel Augusto da Fonseca, also took part in the founding and were later joined by the French-Brazilian businessman Pierre Falcone,[24] also known through the Angolagate affair.[25]
[edit] Investments in Angola
With Condis, which is controlled 51 % by Isabel dos Santos, the business woman signed a joint partnership with the Portuguese Sonae group in April 2011, for the development and operation of a retail trading company in Angola. They will open the first Continente supermarket brand in 2013 in Angola.[26]
[edit] References
- ^ Africa Confidential about Isabel dos Santos
- ^ Forbes: 10 African Millionaires retrieved 31 December 2011
- ^ Forbes: Africa’s Richest Women May 2, 2011
- ^ GeneAll.net data
- ^ Report about Isabel dos Santos on Negócios Online December 2008
- ^ Artnet News: About Sindika Dokolo & his wife Isabel dos Santos February 23, 2007
- ^ Source: Público, about Isabel dos Santos July 20, 2008 (Portuguese)
- ^ Guardian: It's party time for Luanda's elite as Angola grows rich on oil and gems August 31, 2008 (section 7)
- ^ Forbes.com: Lev Leviev is taking on the most successful cartel in the world March 15, 2009, (section 22)
- ^ Blog TV maravilha about Isabel dos Santos business activities (Portuguese)
- ^ Endiama Subsidiary sells Diamond Exploration rights to Angolan President's son-in-law February 14, 2011
- ^ Millennium investment banking: Kento qualified holding comment March 14, 2011 (page 1)
- ^ NYSE Euronext Company profile
- ^ Zon's shareholders unanimously approved the entry of Isabel dos Santos (Portuguese)
- ^ BIC board members (Portuguese)
- ^ Shareholders structure BPI June 24, 2011 (Portuguese)
- ^ Bloomberg: Isabel dos Santos wants to raise stake at BPI December 22, 2010
- ^ Report on Voice of America (Portuguese)
- ^ Reuters: Sonae plans superstores in Angola November 12, 2009
- ^ Pitigrili: Investments of Isabel dos Santos (English/Portuguese)
- ^ Público: Sonae formalizes agreement with Isabel dos Santos to enter Angola April 16, 2011 (Portuguese)
- ^ Afrika Info (in German)
- ^ Macauhub: Big companies “full” of influential figures September 22, 2008
- ^ Nicole Guardiola: Os «novos ricos Angolanos» (pt)
- ^ Elizabeth P.Allen: Anatomy of a scandal - Angolagate retrieved August 1, 2011
- ^ Portuguese group Sonae authorised to open hypermarkets in Angola Aicep Portugal Global, retrieved 27 Dezember 2011
- "Powerful Isabela", article in Focus nº 480 from 2008 (Portuguese)
[edit] Weblinks
- Angola: Isabel Dos Santos - Honour and Lies Rafael Marques de Morais, 24 February 2012
- Pitigrili about Isabel dos Santos
- Público Capa: The face of Angola July 20, 2007 (Portuguese)
