Isabel dos Santos is an Angolan businesswoman and the eldest daughter of Angola’s former president, José Eduardo dos Santos, who ruled the country from 1979 to 2017.
Until his death in 2022, her father had clung to power for 38 years, making him the world’s third longest-serving non-royal head of state.
Once considered Africa’s richest woman, Isabel is one of Africa’s most powerful business figures.
This is her profile as told by WOA:
Isabel dos Santos Net worth
In 2020, Forbes reported Isabel’s net worth as $ 1.4 billion, a decrease from her $3.7 billion net worth in 2013, when she had been ranked as Africa’s only female billionaire and the continent’s youngest.
As the daughter of Angola’s former president, Isabel dos Santos holds direct ownership in several key companies:
- Unitel: A major mobile telecommunications company in Angola, where she was a founding member and held a 25% stake as of 2020.
- Banco BIC: One of Angola’s largest banks, which she co-founded in 2005.
- Efacec: An engineering firm that the Portuguese government nationalized due to concerns over its financial stability, in which dos Santos owned a majority stake.
She also has stakes in these companies:
- Unitel International Holdings B.V: This entity serves as a vehicle for her telecommunications investments and is incorporated in the Netherlands.
- Esperanza Holding B.V: Based in Amsterdam, this company is linked to her investments in energy and oil sectors, including stakes in Galp Energia, a Portuguese energy company.
- Trans Africa Investment Services: A Gibraltar-based company established for diamond business ventures alongside her mother.
- Galp Energia: Through Exem Energy BV, she acquired a stake in this Portuguese oil and gas firm, valued at approximately $550 million but currently frozen due to legal issues.
- Banco Português de Investimento (BPI): She held a 20% stake through Santoro Finance until selling it during CaixaBank’s takeover bid.
- ZAP: A satellite television operator where she had ownership interests as of 2015
According to Forbes, Isabel made most of her wealth between 2007 and 2010 against a backdrop of corruption allegations against her father, Jose Eduardo Dos Santos.
Her financial standing reportedly deteriorated due to legal issues and asset seizures over corruption allegations.
Consequently, her assets have faced freezes totaling around $734 million in various jurisdictions, including a recent High Court ruling in London that froze her assets amid allegations of corruption and embezzlement linked to her time as a director at Unitel.
Despite the freezing of her assets, Isabel still remains filthy rich.
According to Tatler, Dos Santos owns a mansion in London valued at approximately £13 million (around $16 million).
Additionally, she and her mother, Tatiana “Kukanova” Regan, co-own a two-bedroom apartment in Dubai Marina. Her mother reportedly owns another unit in the same building, which she leases as a rental property.
Isabel dos Santos Education qualification
Reflecting her status as Angola’s former first daughter, Isabel dos Santos has a solid educational background.
She completed her secondary education at Cobham Hall School, an all-girls boarding school in Kent, England.
She then attended St. Paul’s Girls’ School in London for her A-levels, then earned a degree in Electrical Engineering from King’s College London in 1995.
She has been known to be multilingual, speaking English, French, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish
Isabel dos Santos Success Journey
Born on April 20, 1973, in Baku, Azerbaijan, Isabel began her career in the early 1990s as a project manager engineer for Urbana 2000, a subsidiary of Jembas Group, which was involved in urban sanitation projects in Luanda.
She then ventured into entrepreneurship by establishing a trucking business and later opened the Miami Beach Club in 1997, one of Luanda’s first nightclubs and beach restaurants, which became a popular venue.
In 2000, she co-founded Unitel, Angola’s first private mobile telecommunications operator. This venture was pivotal; she secured a 25% stake in the company, which rapidly grew due to the lack of competition in the sector.
By 2013, Unitel was valued at approximately $2 billion, significantly contributing to her wealth.
Dos Santos then founded Banco BIC, which became one of Angola’s major banks. She also held stakes in other banks, including Banco BPI and Banco Fomento de Angola (BFA).
Currently, Isabel dos Santos lives in self-imposed exile in Dubai and has faced asset freezes amounting to hundreds of millions across various jurisdictions due to ongoing legal battles.
She is married to Sindika Dokolo, a Congolese businessman and art collector who passed away in 2020 from a road accident. The couple have three children together:
- Talita dos Santos Dokolo
- Duarte dos Santos Dokolo
- Diana dos Santos Dokolo
