Meet South Africa’s top 5 wealthiest women

BY FIONA WAKELIN & SINAZO MKOKO

Looking at the list of the richest women in Africa, what is striking is that acquiring billionaire status does not happen overnight. Everyone featured here has spent a lifetime investing in, and growing, their entrepreneurial empires. Silver hair and gold in the bank!

Topping the list of wealthy powerhouses in South Africa is:

WENDY APPELBAUM

Wendy Appelbaum is the daughter of Liberty Group founder Donald Gordon and the owner and Chair of De Morgenzon Wine Estate. Previously, Wendy also served as the Deputy-Chairperson of the Women's Investment Portfolio Limited (Wiphold Limited), which is a renowned women’s investment holding company that is listed on the JSE. Overall, Wendy is also a Director of Sphere Holdings (Pty) Ltd, which is a black empowerment company addressing financial services in mining sectors. In 2015, she was awarded both the Forbes Woman Businesswoman of the Year, and the Forbes Africa Woman of the Year.

She’s followed by:

WENDY ACKERMAN

Wendy Ackerman is one of the founders and an Executive Director of Pick ‘n Pay Stores. Along with her husband Raymond Ackerman, Wendy has been a tremendous force in building up one of South Africa’s leading FMCG retailers, which, to date, consists of over 450 stores, with the inclusion of 121 supermarkets and 14 hypermarkets. The company extends its food and retail services across South Africa, southern Africa and even Australia, and has employed an estimated 49 000 people over the years. Wendy received an Inyathelo Award for her family’s philanthropic efforts in 2007.

In the third place is:

IRENE CHARNLEY

Irene Charnley is the the Founder, former CEO and former Deputy Chairperson of Smile Telecoms, a Pan-African telecommunications group established in 2007, with broadband operations in Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda and a presence in the Democratic Republic of Congo (“DRC”). She is a successful businesswoman and is the President of the International Women’s Forum South Africa (IWFSA), a global organisation of over 7 500 preeminent women of significant and diverse achievement across 36 nations and 6 continents. Among other things, she has served on the Board of the Public Investment Corporation.

Sitting on the fourth place is:

BRIDGET RADEBE

Bridget Radebe is the former president of South African Mining Development Association and a mogul in the mining industry. She’s the older sister of one the richest men in South Africa, Patrice Motsepe. With a networth of over R1billion, the iconic business woman has paved a way for many African women who aspire to be in the male-dominated industry and be among the top richest women in South Africa.

Closing the top five is:

SHARON WAPNICK

With a networth of over R400million, Sharon Wapnick was the Founding Member of Tugendhaft Wapnick Banchetti & Partners - a leading South African boutique corporate and commercial law firm, centrally situated in the economic hub of Sandton's CBD. She is the daughter of the Founder of Octodec Investments, Alec Wapnick. In 2011, Sharon was elected as the Chairman of Octodec. She completed her BA degree and LLB (cum laude) via the University of the Witwatersrand, and fulfilled her articles of clerkship with Moss Morris, which is where she was promoted as the Deputy Chairperson of Moss Morris in 2003.