To date, there is only one female billionaire in Africa. And, as the publication writes Gazeta.Pl this is not a success story. Isabel dos Santos owes everything to her father, with whom she and her husband allegedly appropriated public funds for years. According to the source, it is for this that Ms. dos Santos is not loved at home, and the scale of the alleged crimes led to British and American sanctions.
The father of the businesswoman is the late former President of Angola, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who ruled the country for almost 40 years, from 1979 to 2017. It was his political influence that made Isabel dos Santos the first and only female billionaire in Africa at the age of 40.
Isabel dos Santos is a textbook example of why the expression "social feminism, not liberal" appeared. Currently, her fortune is estimated at about $ 3 billion. It is also interesting that this entrepreneur was born in Baku (USSR), she is fluent in Portuguese, Russian, English and French.
Initially, Angola tried to present the wealth of dos Santos as a source of national pride and proof of the country's success. The entrepreneur herself claims that she has achieved everything herself. However, Foabes journalists have been tracking her path to wealth for a year, analyzing documents and interviewing dozens of people.
"As far as we know, all of dos Santos' major investments in Angola were the result of either the acquisition of a stake in a company that wanted to do business in the country, or the president's decision to involve his daughter in this operation. Her story provides a rare glimpse into the same tragic narrative that prevails in resource—rich countries around the world," the Forbes article says.
Isabel dos Santos received the nickname "Princess" as a child. The family lived on a grand scale and even brought Christmas trees from New York and $500,000 worth of champagne from Lisbon.
"Over time, Isabel became a "figurehead" of her father, a reliable way of pumping money out of the country. This allowed him to keep his distance from the scandal. There is no doubt how her father made such a fortune," former Angolan Prime Minister Marcolini Moko told Forbes.
The family has denied the allegations, calling them "absurd and groundless."