Encomium
Isabel dos Santos, 43, is the daughter of Angolan dictator Jose Eduardo dos Santos who has been president of the mineral resources rich country since 1979.
And with a net worth of $3.3 billion today (Wednesday, May 25), she’s Africa’s richest woman and the world’s richest black woman; leaving the legendary Oprah Winfrey, 62, second with $3.1 billion.
Here are 13 quick facts about the billionaire who is now number 558 on Forbes rich list :
1. Isabel was born on April 20, 1973, six years before her father became the president of Angola which gained independence in 1975.
2. She was born in Baku, Azerbaijan.
3. Her mother (Tatiana Kukanova) was born in Russia . But her parents are from São Tomé and Principe. Eduardo and Tatiana met when the dictator was a student in Azerbaijan.
4. Isabel was educated in the United Kingdom, and attended King’s College London where she studied electrical engineering.
5. She’s married to Congolese businessman Sindika Dokolo ( since 2002) whom she met in
the UK.
6. Their wedding ceremony in Luanda in December 2002 reportedly gulped $4 million. A choir was said to have been flown in from Belgium, and two planes brought food from France to entertain their 800 guests.
7. Sindika’s father is a millionaire from Kinshasa and his wife Danish.
8. Isabel and Sindika have three children.
9. Isabel returned to Luanda after school in the UK to work as project manager of a company (Urban 2000) which had the contract to clean and disinfect the city.
10. She set up a trucking company and later a walkie talkie concern before her foray in telecommunications.
11. In 1997, she went into hospitality – and has expanded as a conglomerate with interests spanning several sectors from media to telecommunications, retail to finance and energy.
12. In 2012, her tenth wedding anniversary party was a three-day affair with friends and family flown in from Germany and Brazil.
13. Her sources of wealth – in a poor country with the populace living on less than $2 a day – have largely been trailed by controversy.
