 | |
| Description: Net Worth: $3.6 BILLION Industry: Retail Country of Citizenship: South Africa Age: 73 Number of Jobs Created: 9,107 Africa’s leading retail magnate, 73-year-old Christoffel (Christo) Wiese is the largest individual shareholder of Shoprite, the continent’s largest discount grocery retailer. Shoprite operates 453 grocery stores in South Africa and across Sub-Saharan Africa. Shoprite recently bet big on Nigeria and has plans to open 50 stores in the near term, with long-term plans for as many as 700 grocery outlets across the country. After studying Law at the University of Stellenbosch, Wiese began a job as an executive director at Pep Stores, a discount clothing chain cofounded by his parents. Pep Stores diversified by acquiring a small retail chain, Shoprite. When Wiese became chairman of the company in 1981, he changed the company’s name to Pepkor and made a series of acquisitions including Ackermans, a prominent clothing chain. Wiese holds a 44-percent stake in Pepkor and a 15-percent stake in Shoprite, which he listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). While his Shoprite stake remains his most lucrative asset, he also owns significant stakes in other JSE-listed companies including Invicta Holdings, Mining Group, Pallinghurst Resources, Tradehold Ltd, Naspers, Digicore, and a 35-percent stake in the private equity firm, Brait. Other assets include Trans Hex Group and a private game reserve in the Kalahari. |
| Comments |
