South African billionaire Patrice Motsepe’s net worth has increased by $200 million in the last 19 days, from $2.3 billion to $2.5 billion, according to Forbes data maintained by Billionaires Africa.
According to the site, this is owing to an increase in the market value of his private investments, notably his stakes in TymeBank, a digital-only bank. Motsepe’s net worth fell by $100 million between May 12 and June 2, bringing his total wealth loss to $900 million. With his $200 million gain, his overall wealth loss is now $700 million, indicating he has lost more than half a billion dollars this year.
Motsepe is the founder and chairman of African Rainbow Minerals, which mines iron ore, manganese ore and alloys, platinum group metals, copper, nickel, and coal. He is South Africa’s first Black industrialist and billionaire. In 2008, he became the first black African billionaire on the Forbes list. In 1994, the South African became the first Black partner at Johannesburg legal firm Bowman Gilfillan before launching a mining services contracting business.
In 2016, he founded African Rainbow Capital, a private equity firm focused on investing in Africa. Motsepe was elected president of the Confederation of African Football in 2021. He is the president and owner of the Mamelodi Sundowns Football Club.
The South African millionaire is the first African to join Bill Gates and Warren Buffett’s Giving Pledge, in which he pledges to donate at least half of his money to charity. Motsepe is an international businessman with expertise in governance, legislation, and compliance, but his first love was entrepreneurship.
“Growing up in a business environment in a family, standing behind conflicts at a young age, and I wanted to pursue my first passion which was entrepreneurship,” he said in an interview with CNN. The African billionaire has a BA law degree (University of Swaziland), LLB (Wits University), Doctor of Commerce (honoris causa) (Wits University), Doctor of Commerce (honoris causa) (Stellenbosch University), Doctor of Management and Commerce (honoris causa) (Fort Hare) and Doctor of Laws (honoris causa) (University of Eswatini, formerly University of Swaziland).