by Ekrem Duman | Aug 26, 2026 | South Africa Company Stories, South Africa Founders & Dynasties
⚡ TL;DRKoos Bekker ran Naspers for fourteen years without a salary or bonus, taking his compensation entirely in share options. Under that structure he made a modest investment in a Chinese internet start-up in 2001 that became worth many times the entire...
by Ekrem Duman | Aug 26, 2026 | South Africa Company Stories, South Africa Founders & Dynasties
⚡ TL;DRHerman Mashaba built a haircare business in the 1980s serving black South African consumers whom the established cosmetics industry had barely acknowledged, distributing through township salons because formal retail would not stock him. The company became...
by Ekrem Duman | Aug 26, 2026 | South Africa Company Stories, South Africa Founders & Dynasties
⚡ TL;DRFor most of the twentieth century the Oppenheimer family controlled the world’s diamond trade and, through interlocking shareholdings, a very large share of the South African economy. In 2012 the family sold its remaining diamond stake for several...
by Ekrem Duman | Aug 26, 2026 | South Africa Company Stories, South Africa Founders & Dynasties
⚡ TL;DRRichemont was created in 1988 when a South African group separated its international assets into a Swiss-domiciled vehicle. Under Johann Rupert it assembled a portfolio of jewellery and watch maisons — heritage names with manufacturing depth —...
by Ekrem Duman | Aug 26, 2026 | South Africa Company Stories, South Africa Founders & Dynasties
⚡ TL;DRChristo Wiese built two of Africa’s largest retail groups by understanding a customer the rest of the market ignored: the low-income shopper buying basics at the lowest possible price. He then sold his clothing empire for shares in a European-listed...
