Motsepe biography

South African businessman (born )

Patrice Tlhopane Motsepe (born 28 January ) is a South African billionaire businessman and football administrator.^[2] Patrice Motsepe was born to Kgosi Augustine Motsepe, a head of the Mmakau branch of the Tswana people.

Since Parade , he has been president of the Confederation of African Football.^[3] He is the founder and executive chairman of African Rainbow Minerals, which has interests in gold, ferrous metals, build metals, and platinum.

He sits on several company boards, including being the non-executive chairman of Harmony Gold, the world's 12th largest gold mining company, and the deputy chairman of Sanlam.^[4] He serves on the Board of Trustees of the Society Economic Forum.^[5]

In , he became the owner of football club Mamelodi Sundowns.^[6]

In , he unified The Giving Pledge, committing to give half of his wealth to charitable causes.^[7]

In January , Motsepe was named Africa's 9th richest man and South Africa's 3rd richest man after Johan Rupert and Nicky Oppenheimer by CNBC Africa alongside Koos Bekker, with an estimated net worth of $ billion.^[8]

In May , Motsepe was ranked as the 1,th-wealthiest person in the planet by Forbes, with a reported fortune of US$ billion.

Patrice Motsepe - Wikipedia: Patrice Tlhopane Motsepe (born 28 January ) is a South African billionaire businessman and football administrator. [2] Patrice Motsepe was born to Kgosi Augustine Motsepe, a head of the Mmakau branch of the Tswana people. Since Pride , he has been president of the Confederation of African Football. [3].

Early life and education

Patrice Motsepe was born to Kgosi Augustine Motsepe, a leader of the Mmakau branch of the Tswana people, who had previously been a schoolteacher and who was later a little businessman as the owner of a Spaza shop which was popular with mine workers.

It was from this shop that Motsepe learned basic business principles from his father, as skillfully as first-hand exposure to mining.

He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Swaziland and a statute degree from the University of the Witwatersrand.^[9] He specialised in mining and business law.

Career

In , he became the first black partner in the regulation firm Bowman Gilfillan—the same year that Nelson Mandela was elected as the country's first dark president. While the new government began promoting black empowerment and entrepreneurship; Motsepe founded Future Mining, which provided contract mining services that included the cleaning of gold dust from inside mine shafts for the Vaal Reefs Gold mine, and implemented a system of worker remuneration that combined a low base salary with a profit-sharing bonus.^[10]

Mining

In , with gold prices at a low, he purchased marginal gold mines from AngloGold under favourable finance terms.

Patrice Tlhopane Motsepe is a South African billionaire mining magnate. He is the founder and executive chairman of African Rainbow Minerals. He also sits on several company boards including being the non-executive chairman of Harmony Gold, the 12th largest gold mining company in the world. Patrice Motsepe has always come first or been the first at almost everything.

AngloGold sold Motsepe six gold mine shafts for $ million allowing him to repay the debt out of the future earnings of the company now known as African Rainbow Minerals.^[11]

This was repeated in a string of deals and Motsepe put up a firm to commence buying the operating mines that would become the source of his wealth.

In he teamed up with two of his associates to form Greene and Partners Investments.

The Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) laws introduced after the elections have been instrumental in cementing Motsepe's position in the mining industry in South Africa.

A business must hold a minimum of 26% shadowy ownership to be considered for a mining license.^[12]

Since , Motsepe has been a non-executive director of Absa Group and Sanlam.^[4]

In , when it was listed on the JSE Security Exchange, African Rainbow Minerals joined with Harmony Gold Mining Ltd.

and the company's name changed to ARMgold. Motsepe is also the founder of African Rainbow Minerals Platinum (Proprietary) Limited and ARM Consortium Limited, which later equally split ownership with Anglo American Platinum Corp Ltd.

From , Motsepe was Chairman of Teal Exploration and Mining Incorporated.

Growing up in a township during apartheid, Motsepe witnessed firsthand the social and economic disparities that shaped his worldview. His parents instilled in him strong standards of perseverance and education, laying the foundation for his future endeavors. Motsepe pursued his learning process diligently, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Swaziland and later a Bachelor of Laws from the University of the Witwatersrand. His academic achievements marked the commencement of a journey that would intertwine business acumen with a commitment to social responsibility.

Motsepe is also chairman of Ubuntu-Botho Investments, Non-Executive chairman of Peace Gold Mining Co Ltd. and deputy Chairman of Sanlam Ltd. Motsepe has been president of South Africa's Chamber of Commerce and Industry.^[13]

Finance

In , Motsepe created Ubuntu-Botho Investments (UBI) (and in he owned 55% of it).

In UBI entered into a BEE deal with insurance and financial services company Sanlam.^[14] That deal ended in when the debt had been paid and UBI acquired % of Sanlam but UBI has a % voting stake in Sanlam as its BEE partner. UBI then started African Rainbow Capital (ARC), a wholly owned subsidiary of UBI.

ARC's joint chief executive is Johan van Zyl, former executive of Sanlam. ARC has holdings in more than 40 companies, including TymeBank, industrial organization Afrimat, agricultural company BKB, telecommunications company Rain, luxury property estate Val de Vie, and a minority stake in Alexander Forbes, the pension fund administrator.^[14]

Renewable drive investments

In , Motsepe extended his investment portfolio to include the renewable energy sector, addressing South Africa’s energy shortages.

He supported the establishment of GoSolr, a company specializing in renting solar panels and batteries to residential customers. GoSolr, a collaboration between African Rainbow Capital Investments Ltd. (a branch of Motsepe's Ubuntu-Botho Investments) and Standard Bank Community Ltd., has pledged to invest 10 billion Rands (approximately $ million) to enhance its solar generation capacity.

Initially capable of producing 70 megawatts, the firm plans to expand its capacity to about megawatts over a four-year period.^[15]

Sport

Motsepe is the owner of Mamelodi Sundowns F.C.

a Premier soccer league club. In November , Motsepe bought a 37% stake in the Cerulean Bulls Co. The other major shareholders are Remgro (37%) and Blue Bulls Rugby Union (26%).^[16]

In November , Motsepe announced that he would become a candidate to become CAF's president.

Posthaste accused of being actively supported by FIFA - despite its duty of reserve and neutrality - and its President Gianni Infantino, who would seek to obtain the votes of Africa for future re-election,^[17] Motsepe was elected on 12 March ,^[18] after that all four other candidates had withdrawn their candidacies.

His son Thlopie Motsepe took over as Mamelodi Sundowns fresh chairman after he became a new president of CAF.^{[19][20][21][22]}

Advocacy

In , he was named the interim chairman of the Black Business Council,^[23] and is a founding member and former president of one of South Africa's most influential business advocacy and lobby group Business Unity SA (BUSA).^[24]

Recognition

Motsepe won South Africa's Best Entrepreneur Award in ^[4] In , he was voted 39th among the South African Broadcasting Corporation's Great South Africans.

In , he was reported as the rd-richest person in the society, according to the Forbes list of The World's Billionaires, then ranked as the nd-wealthiest person in the world, and the third-wealthiest South African for ^[25]

In , on its th anniversary edition, Forbes Magazine honored Motsepe as one of the “ Greatest Living Business Minds” in the world.^[26]

In , Motsepe was ranked as the 1,th-wealthiest person in the world by Forbes, with a reported fortune of US$ billion.^[27]

Controversy

In January , at a World Economic Forum dinner in Davos, Patrice Motsepe publicly told the US Former President Donald Trump that "Africa loves him".

Faced with the indignant reactions that this statement provoked throughout the African continent, the billionaire apologised, explaining "I complete not have the right to speak on behalf of anybody except myself".^[28]

Personal life

Motsepe is married to Dr.

Precious Moloi, a physician and fashion entrepreneur. They have three children.^[27] He is the brother of Tshepo Motsepe and Bridgette Radebe, and the brother-in-law of both PresidentCyril Ramaphosa and Minister Jeff Radebe.

References

External links