Top 10 South African business people of all time
The list of South Africa’s greatest business people is dominated by entrepreneurs who started businesses and turned them into multi-billion rand enterprises, employing thousands along the way.
The brain behind Sun City, Sol Kerzner, is rated as the greatest business person in the country, followed by Liberty Life founder Donald Gordon and property developer Richard Maponya.
New World Wealth’s list of the ten greatest business people in South African history is based on how the individuals influenced the country and the global business community.
The criteria also looked at how these business people innovated in their field, created jobs, and overcame challenges and obstacles.
Many of these individuals are known for their philanthropic efforts, using the money they made in business to help others and protect the environment.
Some of the individuals ranked lower down on the list include individuals from South Africa’s most storied business dynasties – the Ruperts and the Oppenheimers.
While Anton Rupert created the Rupert business empire, Harry Oppenheimer carried on the legacy from his father, Sir Ernest, and turned Anglo American into one of the world’s largest companies.
The list does not only include individuals who have moved on from their business endeavours. Discovery CEO Adrian Gore and billionaire Patrice Motsepe are also included.
Insurance mogul Douw Steyn rounds out the top ten as one of South Africa’s most successful global businessmen, with his insurance empire extending to the UK.
Below are the top ten greatest South African business people of all time, along with an outline of what they achieved in their careers.
Sol Kerzner
Synonymous with luxury hospitality in South Africa, Sol Kerzner was the man behind many of the country’s most famous hotels, including Sun City, the Sandton Towers, and the Johannesburg Sun.
Born and raised in Johannesburg by his family of Russian immigrants, Kerzner initially wanted to become a mechanic but was persuaded to pursue accounting.
The young Kerzner took over the family’s kosher hotels business after graduating in the 1960s, buying his first property in Durban in 1962.
This laid the foundation for what would become the Southern Sun hotel group, with Kerzner opening South Africa’s first five-star hotel in Umhlanga in 1964, named the Beverly Hills Hotel.
In 1969, in partnership with South African Breweries, he established the chain of Southern Sun Hotels, which operated 30 luxury hotels with more than 7,000 rooms by 1983.
Ten years later, Kerzner would open Sun City, dubbed South Africa’s Las Vegas, in the homeland of Bophuthatswana.
The height of opulence in the 20th century, Sun City boasted a man-made lake, a Gary Player gold course and a luxurious hotel.
Sun City would also mark Kerzner’s move into casinos and gambling, which still generates a significant portion of Sun International’s revenue.
Kerzner went on to develop resorts in Mauritius, Dubai, and the Maldives, each catering to a specific clientele and offering a unique blend of relaxation, adventure, and unparalleled service.
Kerzner stepped down as CEO of Kerzner International in 2008 and passed away in 2020, but his legacy lives on.
Before he died, Kerzner helped his daughter develop prime property in Llandudno in the Western Cape. Now called the Kerzner Estate, the ten-hectare property has 48 luxury houses.
Donald Gordon
On the other end of the spectrum to Kerzner was Sir Donald Gordon, who pioneered the protection of life in South Africa through insurance.
Educated at King Edward VII School in Johannesburg, Gordon would practice as an accountant until he founded Liberty Life in 1957.
Liberty would become one of the most innovative and influential companies in South Africa, selling the first-ever retirement annuity in the country.
It would also go on to launch the first unit trust in the country and was the first insurance company ever to link life insurance benefits to unit trusts.
Listed on the JSE in 1962, Liberty would grow rapidly to become the fifth-largest company in South Africa by 1992.
During his time running Liberty, Gordon also pioneered the development of Sandton City, now the richest square mile in Africa.
After Gordon’s retirement in 1999, Liberty would undergo major changes as the Standard Bank of South Africa took control of Liberty Life.
Standard Bank and Liberty would continue to have a close relationship, with the bank eventually buying out the insurer’s minority shareholders and fully incorporating it into the Standard Bank Group.
Gordon’s retirement was dominated by philanthropy, making one of the largest single private donations to the arts in British history by giving a £20 million donation to the Royal Opera House and Wales Millenium Centre.
He also founded the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) in South Africa in 2000 in collaboration with the University of Pretoria.
In Queen Elizabeth’s 2005 Birthday Honours List, Gordon was awarded a knighthood in recognition of his services to the arts and business.
Richard Maponya
Known today as the grandfather of black business in South Africa, Richard Maponya became one of the country’s most successful property developers in the 20th century.
Born in a small township called Lenyenye in Limpopo. Maponya moved to Polokwane after finishing high school to be trained as a teacher.
He began his teaching career in Alexandra Township in 1948 – nearly forty years before the development of nearby Sandton City.
When trying to register his move to Alexandra, Maponya was picked up by an Afrikaans man to work on his potato farm. Maponya’s uncle helped him get a dishwashing job to help him get out of planting and harvesting potatoes.
Upon returning to Alexandra, Maponya kickstarted a career in retail and worked as a merchandiser for three months.
Maponya’s boss at the time, “Mr Bolton”, saw immense potential in the youngster and soon made him an offer to enable Maponya to buy clothing samples from suppliers and sell them after hours. This marked the beginning of Maponya’s entrepreneurship.
Maponya moved his business to Soweto and soon became very successful, building up capital that he then used to open his own clothing store in the township.
The government did not give Maponya a licence to open a clothing store but was instead allowed to trade daily necessities, such as milk and bread.
After Clover moved into Soweto and outcompeted Maponya’s fledgling milk delivery business, the entrepreneur would open Maponya’s Supply Stores.
Using the capital from his various successful ventures, Maponya would open Maponya Mall in 2007 in Soweto. At a cost of R650 Million, this was the biggest investment that Soweto had ever seen.
Maponya continued to grow his massive business empire in the years to come, and when he passed away shortly after his 99th birthday in 2020, he was still a working man.
Harry Oppenheimer
Harry Oppenheimer inherited a substantial business in Anglo American created by his father, Sir Ernest.
Built on diamonds and gold, Harry would turn the company into the dominant mining house in the world by the time he retired as Chairman in 1982.
After completing his primary schooling in Johannesburg, Oppenheimer would finish his school career in England before studying at Oxford and returning to take up a position at Anglo American.
Sir Ernest effectively groomed Harry as his successor as chairman of both Anglo and De Beers, with his son writing correspondence on Ernest’s behalf and advising his father on business deals from a young age.
Even when serving in North Africa in WWII, Harry would send letters to his father suggesting how different parts of the business could be improved and giving his opinion on potential business deals.
Harry would eventually rise to the position of chairman of Anglo American and De Beers in 1957 and would spend the next 25 years of his life at the helm.
By the time he retired, Anglo would be amongst the biggest companies in the world, and Oppenheimer ranked among the top ten wealthiest men alive.
Built on diamonds and gold, Anglo would become the biggest economic force in South Africa, with its hands in everything from coal mining to finance to paper mills.
Anglo, at its peak, controlled 55% of all the companies listed on the JSE, and Oppenheimer would regularly visit foreign heads of state and host powerful political figures at his home, Brenthurst.
A lifelong critic of the Apartheid regime, Oppenheimer also briefly served as an MP on the opposition benches and made several speeches in Parliament against the National Party’s Apartheid policies.
Pam Golding
Pam Golding founded Pam Golding Properties in the 1970s as a housewife with no start-up capital, turning her hobby into South Africa’s largest private real estate business.
Born in 1928 in Umtata, Golding experienced a modest upbringing, studying English and Psychology at the University of Cape Town before discovering her passion for real estate in the 1960s.
Inspired by buying her own home, she began offering informal advice on property sales and purchases to people in her network, eventually leading her to start her own company in 1976.
Golding grew the business from a single salesperson to an expanding team, with steady progress allowing for the first office in Kenilworth by 1979.
Through the 1980s, the company flourished, adding branches in Cape Town and eventually opening an office in London, making it the first South African real estate firm to market properties abroad.
In the late 1980s, Golding expanded to Johannesburg, starting from scratch without agents or property stock. In 1993, she launched Pam Golding Franchise Services, allowing the company to expand nationally.
Golding also served as a trustee for the Desmond Tutu Peace Trust, a World Wildlife Fund board member, and received a lifetime achievement award at the Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur Awards.
Golding passed away in 2018 at the age of 90. Her son, Dr Andrew Golding, now leads the business, which has grown into a respected global real estate network with over 300 offices.
Adrian Gore
Adrian Gore, founder and CEO of Discovery, has built a healthcare and financial services powerhouse covering over 2.8 million people and more than 200,000 companies.
Born in 1964, Gore was inspired by a family that valued education, leading him to study Actuarial Science at the University of the Witwatersrand.
Beginning his career at Liberty Life, where he developed the Medical Lifestyle product, gaining insights into creating impactful healthcare solutions.
At just 27, Gore founded Discovery in 1992 with backing from Rand Merchant Bank, launching Discovery Health the following year.
Despite political and economic uncertainty in early-90s South Africa, Discovery grew to dominate the healthcare insurance market, later listing on the JSE.
Gore’s vision extended globally, as Discovery pioneered the Vitality Health wellness program, which uses behavioural economics to incentivise healthy lifestyles, collecting data to support preventive healthcare.
Expanding into financial services, Discovery launched Discovery Bank in 2018, a shared-value financial institution that rewards healthy financial habits with incentives like better interest rates.
With over a million accounts, Discovery Bank aligns financial well-being with physical health, reflecting Gore’s holistic approach to improving customers’ lives.
Discovery now operates in 41 markets worldwide, with subsidiaries in the US and in the UK. The company also has a significant investment in Chinese insurer Ping An.
Nthato Motlana
Dr Nthato Motlana is considered the father of economic empowerment in South Africa, founding the country’s first empowerment firm, New African Investments Limited (NAIL).
Trained as a doctor, Motlana was very politically active during Apartheid and even needed permission to attend his own graduation in 1954.
Motlana would play a significant role in many events in South African history, being tried alongside Nelson Mandela in 1952 and being a leader of the Soweto Uprising in 1976.
After South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994, Motlana shifted his attention to business and formed NAIL in the late 1990s.
NAIL would specialise in buying many previously white-run companies and below market value, including The Sowetan newspaper.
Motlana would also serve on the boards of various companies that NAIL took an empowerment stake in, such as Putco, Adcock Ingram and Sasol.
He also served on the boards of a few state entities, including the Rand Water Board.
Due to his success in business by leveraging the Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) policy, Motlana earned the moniker “The Father of Black Economic Empowerment”.
Patrice Motsepe
Patrice Tlhopane Motsepe has built a tremendous business empire, making him South Africa’s first and only black dollar billionaire and one of the most influential businessmen in the country.
Motsepe made most of his money through his mining company, African Rainbow Minerals, which he launched in 1997.
Due to his father’s opposition to Apartheid’s segregated schooling systems, Motsepe was sent to a Roman Catholic boarding school in the Eastern Cape along with his six siblings.
He would go on to attain a bachelor’s degree in law from the University of Swaziland and an LLB from the University of the Witwatersrand.
Motsepe joined the law firm Bowman Gilfillan in 1988 and rose to be the firm’s first black partner in 1993, specialising in mining and business law.
Motsepe believed he could use management techniques, particularly low base pay with production incentives, to transform less-productive shafts into profitable operations.
African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) was launched by Motsepe in 1997 and was listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in 2002.
It merged with Harmony Gold and acquired Anglovaal Mining’s unproductive mines in 2003. After this merger, Motsepe took up the role of executive chairman of ARM – a position he holds to this day.
In 2002, Motsepe was voted South Africa’s Business Leader of the Year by the chief executive officers of the top 100 companies in South Africa.
In the same year, he was the winner of the Ernst & Young Best Entrepreneur of the Year Award. The success of ARM catapulted Motsepe onto Forbes’ billionaire list in 2005.
Ubuntu-Botho Investments (UBI), Motsepe’s investment vehicle, acquired a significant stake in Sanlam as the insurer’s black empowerment partner in 2004.
As of 2022, UBI owns 17.8% of Africa’s largest non-banking financial services group, and Motsepe is currently deputy chairman of Sanlam.
Anton Rupert
Anton Rupert started the Voorbrand Tobacco Company in the 1940s, which soon became known as the Rembrandt Group after a period of strong growth.
Rembrandt would quickly expand into industries ranging from financial services to mining and engineering, becoming a blue-chip JSE-listed company.
In the 1970s, Rembrandt expanded into other industries, like financial services, mining, engineering and food.
Rupert would also spearhead the creation of South Africa’s largest private healthcare group, inviting Dr Edwin Hertzog to join Rembrandt and investigate launching private hospitals in South Africa.
Anton’s son, Johann, joined his father’s company in 1984 and soon led an overhaul of the company by spinning off Rembrandt’s international assets to form Compagnie Financiere Richemont.
Rembrandt and Richemont consolidated their tobacco interests in Rothmans International In 1995. A few years later, it merged these interests with those of British American Tobacco.
The elder Rupert was seen as the Afrikaner counterweight to the dominant English capitalist class, led at the time by Harry Oppenheimer.
Anton also led the Ruperts’s charge into South Africa’s wine and liquor industry through Distell and his own private interest.
The family owns the L’Ormarins wine estate in Franschhoek, which doubles as their stud farm and has bred some of South Africa’s most successful racehorses.
Douw Steyn
Douw Steyn built his insurance empire from humble beginnings, becoming one of the wealthiest men alive.
Ranked as the 58th wealthiest person in the UK in 2024, with a net worth of £3 billion, Steyn grew up in a modest household despite coming from an old Afrikaner family.
Steyn’s journey into insurance began after he worked in his father’s estate agency. Starting as a door-to-door insurance salesman, he eventually moved to California, where he founded Calamerica, his first insurance company.
Returning to South Africa, Steyn acquired the struggling Crusader Insurance company in 1984 and transformed it into Auto & General, introducing telemarketing and paperless insurance, which revolutionised the industry.
In the 1990s, he expanded internationally, launching Budget Insurance in the UK, which later evolved into BGL Group.
His largest project, Steyn City, launched in 2015 with R6.5 billion in infrastructure investment, creating a luxury lifestyle estate on 2,000 acres near Johannesburg.
Aimed at offering “country living with all amenities within reach,” Steyn City has been recognised as one of the world’s top residential estates.
With properties ranging from R2.45 million to R22.24 million, the estate includes high-end amenities such as a golf course, equestrian centre, and helistop.
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