Isabel dos Santos is the daughter of Angola's President José Eduardo dos
Santos. She is an Angolan investor. She is considered by Forbes to be the
richest woman in Africa and the most powerful and richest woman in her
country. In 2013, according to research by Forbes, her net worth had reached
more than three billion US Dollars, making her Africa’s first billionaire
woman. Family and education
Isabel dos Santos is the oldest daughter of Angola's President José Eduardo dos
Santos and his first wife, the Russian-born Tatiana Kukanova, whom he
met while studying in Azerbaijan. Her father's parents came from São Tomé and
Príncipe. She studied electrical engineering at King's College in London.
There she met her husband from the Democratic Republic of the Congo,
Sindika Dokolo, a son of a millionaire from Kinshasa and his Danish wife. There
were reports, that when they got married in Luanda, in December 2002, the wedding
ceremony cost about US$4 million, with a special choir flown in from Belgium and
two planes chartered to bring food from France. About 800 guests were present at
the wedding, half of them relatives of the couple, and also several African
presidents. Business activities
In the early 1990s Isabel dos Santos returned from London to join her father
in Luanda, starting to work for a German recycling company, then, set up a
trucking business. Here the development of a walkie-talkie system paved the way
for her subsequent foray into telecoms. In 1997, at the age of 24, she started
her first business by opening the Miami Beach Club, one of the first night clubs
and beach restaurants on the Luanda Island. In the early 1990s, in Luanda,
she started working as a project manager engineer for Urbana 2000, a subsidiary
of Jembas Group, that won the contract for cleaning and disinfection of the
city. Over a period of nearly 20 years she expanded her business interests
continuously and this led her to create several holdings, in Angola and mostly
abroad, and to make substantial investments in a series of prestigious
entreprises, especially in Portugal. In December 2014, Isabel dos Santos was
appointed by the Togolese magazine Africa Top Success for "African of the
Year". The Angolan businesswoman competes against five opponents, namely
Angélique Kidjo, Lupita Nyong'o, Daphne Mashile-Nkosi, Fatou Bensouda and Koki
Mutungi. = Investments in Portugal =
Since 2008 she has had 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. Jadeium, a company held
by Isabel dos Santos, acquired 4.918% of ZON Multimedia shares from Spain’s
Telefonica. Through the Netherlands-based Unitel
International Holdings BV, a company controlled by Isabel dos Santos, the
Angolan businesswoman is the main shareholder of ZON Multimédia with 29%
since July 2012. She is member of the board of Angolan bank in Lisbon, Banco
BIC Português, and through Santoro Holding she holds 20% stakes at Banco
Português de Investimento. She has other major stakes with the Angolan state oil
company Sonangol through their mutual European Law holding, based in the
Netherlands, named Esperanza Holding, in Portuguese Galp Energia. Isabel dos
Santos is a founding member and Board member of Banco BIC Português, which
recently acquired Banco Português de Negócios, a nationalized bank.
Since November 2012 Isabel dos Santos is a non-executive board member of ZON. In
December 2012, Isabel dos Santos announced the invitation for a merger of
ZON with Sonaecom, proved in March 2013 by the General Assembly. Eight months
later, after the green light from the Competition Authority, the merger of the
two companies was formalized on August 27, 2013, with the transfer to ZOPT, a
special purpose vehicle created to advance the operation which became the
owner of more 50% of the capital of the new group, the shares that Isabel dos
Santos and Sonaecom hold on Zon and Optimus respectively. There was a
capital increase of ZOPT through contribution in kind from 50 to 716
million euros, while Sonaecom subscribed 358 million shares of the company, by
delivering 81.8% of its stake in Optimus. The Angolan businesswoman, on
her turn, subscribed exactly the same number of shares of ZOPT, through her
holdings Kento and Unitel International, delivering 28.8% of the stake in ZON.
With this transfer of shareholdings in Optimus and Zon, Sonaecom and Isabel dos
Santos became holders of over 50% stake in the merged company: Zon Optimus SGPS.
On this occasion, a new strategy for the company was announced by Isabel dos
Santos, with a multimarket vision. On October 1, 2013, Isabel dos Santos
attended the first General Assembly of Zon Optimus. Isabel dos Santos’
investments in Portugal are in listed companies, which are therefore subject
to official supervision of the Portuguese Securities Market Commission.
In November 2014, Isabel dos Santos launched a takeover bid for Portugal
Telecom, SGPS, S.A., valuing the firm’s shares at €1.35 a share, in what was
seen as a rival bid to a previous €7 billion offer from Altice. Though the
offer made by Altice is on PT Portugal, not on PT SGPS. On December 1, 2014, the
Angolan businesswoman formally registered her offer at the Portuguese
Securities Market Commission. = Investments in Angola =
With 51% control of Condis, Isabel dos Santos signed a joint partnership with
the Portuguese Sonae group in April 2011 for the development and operation of a
retail trading company in Angola. The entry in Angola by the Portuguese group
led by Paulo de Azevedo will be performed by the Continente, which will
open the first supermarket by 2013 in Angola.
= Focus on Telecommunications = The starting point, however, was the
creation of Unitel in partnership with Portugal Telecom, after a tender process
she considered fair. Also through Unitel International
Holding, a platform for Unitel investments where Portugal Telecom has
no presence, she acquired the mobile operator T+, in Cape Verde and gained
the license for the establishment of the second telecom operator in São Tomé and
Príncipe. Under this investment Isabel dos Santos announced during a visit to
São Tomé and Príncipe that Unitel will invest in education in the country to
train engineers, managers and other technicians and also focus on job
creation. In an interview during the New York
Forum Africa, held in June 2013 in Libreville, Gabon, Isabel dos Santos
said that future of telecommunications in Africa is about thinking beyond
mobile phones and focusing on connectivity with high capacity and big
broad band that can connect the African continent.
In November 2014, Isabel dos Santos participated in the 5th edition of the
Global Entrepreneurship Summit held in Marrakech, Morocco. During her speech,
the Angolan businesswoman classified Africa's economic environment and
African market as "very attractive" and revealed that Unitel and Google entered
into a partnership for the installation of a fiber optic submarine cable that
will connect Africa to Brazil and Brazil with USA.
= Holdings = Holdings of Isabel dos Santos in the
recent years: Unitel International Holdings BV: change
of name of Kento and Jadeium, based in Amsterdam, company-vehicle for Isabel
dos Santos’ investment in telecommunications
Santoro Finance: company-vehicle for Isabel dos Santos’ investment in Banco
BPI based in Lisbon Esperanza: based in Amsterdam, energy,
oil etc. Condis: a retail business based in
Luanda Opinions
In 2007 Isabel dos Santos was described by Portuguese daily newspaper Público as
a “good businesswoman, very dynamic and intelligent, who’s also professional and
friendly”. The British newspaper Financial Times wrote, in March 2013,
that “even some critics acknowledge Isabel dos Santos’s independent prowess
as a businesswoman”. In the same interview, Isabel dos Santos says she
does business and is not a politician. The remarkable growth of Isabel dos
Santos' involvement in the Portuguese communications sector has led to concern
in the Portuguese media. Newspapers expressed discontent with the latest
transactions in 2012. According to some editorial, the operation can lead to a
monopoly in some areas of the media business by centralizing Angola and
Portugal. According to other editorial, Isabel dos Santos has said she has no
interest to invest in Portuguese media. Moreover, Isabel dos Santos was also
accused of political bias, such as inside information and contacts in
Portugal. However Portuguese analysts say "Isabel dos Santos has holdings that
are professionally managed, with the appointment of professional managers,
with the profile that requires to listed companies and developed markets". There
is no news of issues with Isabel dos Santos shareholder on any of the
companies. Over the past three years her share has increased exponentially. The
sectors that draw attention are the Telecommunication and the financial
system. Both activities are the investment priorities in of her own
companies in Angola and abroad. Isabel dos Santos, currently one of the
greatest entrepreneurs of her country, expands its business to Europe without
diversifying the industries it serves. A Forbes magazine article described how
Isabel dos Santos acquired her wealth by taking stakes in companies that want to
do business in Angola, suggesting that her wealth comes from her family's
kleptocracy. Isabel dos Santos immediately denied these accusations as
false. Rafael Marques, co-author of the Forbes article, was criticized for
working with George Soros. By 2015, Isabel dos Santos owned a share
of satellite TV operator ZAP, that had in December 2013 acquired the rights to
distribute Forbes in a number of Portuguese speaking countries, namely
Portugal, Angola and Mozambique. It had been announced that most of the content
would be produced by a local team, complemented by content for the North
American edition, therefore potentially allowing influence on Forbes content. It
was initially planned that the first edition of the Portuguese language
Forbes would be published during the 2nd quarter of 2014.
Isabel dos Santos is President of Angola Red Cross
References External links
Pitigrili about Isabel dos Santos Público Capa: The face of Angola July
20, 2007 Angola: Isabel Dos Santos - Honour and
Lies Rafael Marques de Morais, 24 February 2012
Lunch with the FT: Isabel dos Santos Tom Burgis, March 29, 2013