Businesswoman Isabel Dos
Santos, daughter of long-serving
Angolan president Jose Eduardo
Dos Santos, is Africa's first female
billionaire, according to business
publication Forbes.
The 40-year-old's investments in
publicly traded companies in
Portugal, including shares in a
cable TV firm, as well her assets
in at least one Angolan bank,
"have pushed her net worth over
the $1 billion mark," said the
magazine, known for its annual
rich lists.
Her first business endeavor was
in 1997 when she opened a
restaurant in Angola's capital,
Luanda, according to the
magazine. Since then, she's
expanded her business interests
to a number of industries, sitting
on the boards of several Angolan
and Portuguese companies.
A former Portuguese colony,
Angola is the second largest oil
producer in the continent. Over
the last decade, the southwestern
African country has emerged
from the wreckage of a 27-year
civil war to become one of the
continent's major economic
players.

President Dos Santos, who has
been in power since 1979, has
presided over Angola's post-war
economic growth and rebuilding
efforts. He won a new term last
year when the ruling MPLA party
was declared winner of the
August 31 elections.
Greased by growing oil revenues
and China's credit lines of billions
of dollars, Angola's economy
rocketed by an average annual
growth of 17% from 2004 to
2008 before falling to single-digit
figures after the 2008 global
financial crisis.

But despite the heady financial
data and the progress made
since the end of the war in 2002,
Angola still remains one of the
most unequal societies in the
world. The country, which has a
population of some 18 million
people, ranks 148th out of 187
countries in the U.N.'s Human
Development Index.

Corruption is also prevalent, with
Angola ranked 157th out of 176
countries and territories on
Transparency International's
2012 Corruption Perceptions
Index.
"Corruption is a major problem
and the perception of corruption
in Angola by investors is
increasing," says Alex Vines, head
of the Africa Program at London-
based think tank Chatham House.
According to Forbes, Isabel Dos
Santos is the biggest shareholder
in Zon Multimedia, the biggest
cable TV operator in Portugal,
owning a 28.8% stake. She also
has a 19.5% holding at Banco
BPI, one of Portugal's largest
publicly traded banks.
Forbes said that in Angola, the
president's daughter sits on the
board of Banco BIC and is
reported to own a 25% stake in
the bank.
"There is nothing wrong with the
president's daughter being a
business entrepreneur as long as
she's obtained those contracts in
an open and competitive
process," says Vines.

[url]cnnmobile.com/primary/fullarticle?topic=newsarticle&category=intlbusiness&articleId=urn:newsml:CNN.com:20130125:isabel-dos-santos-billionaire:1#page2[/url]

What I would like to know is where the bogus reports came from about that other Nigerian lady being the richest black woman.

Long serving president's daughter! Well I reserve my comment.