BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY Isabel dos Santos (born 1973 in Baku, Azerbaijan SSR) is the daughter of Angola's President José Eduardo dos Santos. She is an Angolan investor.[2] She is considered by Forbes to be the richest woman in Africa[3] and the most powerful and richest woman in her country.[4] In 2013, according to research by Forbes, her net worth had reached more than three billion U.S. dollars, making her Africa’s first woman billionaire.
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.[5][6][7] Her father's parents emigrated from Sao Tome e Principe[8][9] She studied electrical engineering[10] at King's College in London.[11] There she met her husband from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sindika Dokolo,[12] a son of a millionaire from Kinshasa and his Danish wife.[13] There were reports, that when they got married in Luanda, in December 2002,[14] 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.[15]About 800 guests were present at the wedding, half of them relatives of the couple,[14] and also several African presidents.[15]
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.[16] In 1997, at the age of 24, she started her first own business by opening theMiami Beach Club, one of the first night clubs and beach restaurants on the Luanda Island.[17] In the early 1990s, in Luanda, she started working as a project manager engineer for Urbana 2000,[18] a subsidiary of Jembas Group, that won the contract for cleaning and disinfection of the city.[19] 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.[20][21]
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.[22][23]
Through the Netherlands-based Unitel International Holdings BV,[24] a company controlled by Isabel dos Santos,[25][26] the Angolan businesswoman is the main shareholder ofZON Multimédia with 29% since July 2012.[27][28] She is member of the board of Angolan bank in Lisbon, Banco BIC Português,[29] and through Santoro Holding she holds 20% stakes at Banco Português de Investimento.[30][31] 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.[32] Isabel dos Santos is a founding member and Board member of Banco BIC Português,[33] which recently acquired Banco Português de Negócios, a nationalized bank.[34]
Since November 2012 Isabel dos Santos is a non-executive board member of ZON.[35] In December 2012, Isabel dos Santos announced the invitation for a merger of ZON with Sonaecom, proved in March 2013 by the General Assembly.[24] 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.[36][37][38][39] 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.[40][41] On October 1, 2013, Isabel dos Santos attended the first General Assembly of Zon Optimus.[42] Isabel dos Santos’ investments in Portugal are in listed companies, which are therefore subject to official supervision of the Portuguese Securities Market Commission (CMVM).[43] The starting point, however, was the creation of Unitel in partnership with Portugal Telecom, after a tender process she considered fair.[16]
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.[44][45][46] 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.[47]
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.[48][49]
All in all, Isabel dos Santos' fortune in Portugal in mid-2012 amounts to an estimated 1.4 billion Euros.[50]
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 (Angola), which will open the first supermarket by 2013 in Angola.[51]
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”.[52] 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 she is not a politician.[16]
The remarkable growth of Isabel dos Santos' involvement in the Portuguese communications sector has led to a position of 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,[53] 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.[54] It seems a clear strategy of Isabel dos Santos in the Portuguese economy.[by whom?] Over the past three years (2009-2012) her share has increased exponentially. The sectors that draw attention are the communication 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 withoutdiversifying the industries it serves.[54]
A Forbes magazine journalist and a political activist said that Isabel dos Santos has acquired her wealth through participations of companies that want to do business in Angola and by presidential grants.[55] Isabel dos Santos immediately denied these accusations for being false, and reminded that she is an independent entrepreneur and private investor, representing only her own interests.[56] According to what was published in the press, Isabel dos Santos investments on Angolan and/or Portuguese companies are transparent and have been conducted through transactions based on the arms-length principle, involving external entities, such as reputed banks and law firms.[57][58] Rafael Marques, co-author of the Forbes article, was criticized[59] by the existence of a confirmed financial relationship[60] between him and Media Empire of George Soros, who has interests in Southern Africa.[61]
Holdings
- 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
Isabel dos Santos is President of Angola Red Cross[64]
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