Isabel Dos Santos Case Study

ISABEL DOS SANTOS According to an article posted on africanleadership.co.uk, Isabel Dos Santos is the first daughter of the present of Angola, José Eduardo Dos Santos who grew up at a time of war of independence between Angola and colonial ruler, Portugal. “She has amassed a fortune of more than $3 billion USD, making her the richest woman in Africa” (Oluwaseun, 2013). Most Angolans have questioned her source of wealth, considering the fact that her wealth keeps accumulating whilst the bureaucracy and poverty rate keeps increasing. All attempts to trace her wealth have either yielded a satisfactory result of her source of wealth. This has been a major crisis for Isabel since her wealth is been linked to father’s affluence. “For

A lot had been stolen from the economy during the time of the drought and at least $32 billion of revenue from oil deals had gone missing leaving questions as to where exactly the money comes from. After a thorough research on her source of wealth, Oluwaseun, a reporter of African leadership found out that among her shares include her investment in a restaurant and during the time she was a co-owner, the owner of the restaurant was able to deal with government related issues and this has managed to boost her profit enormously. The restaurant, Miami Beach was a mediocre one at the time of the actual owner’s control till Isabel comes into the picture making the restaurant one of the most reputable one in Luanda, Angola. “Another share of hers is a 25% stake in Unitel, Angola’s first private mobile phone operator” (Oluwaseun, 2013). “In 1999, Dos Santo’s granted Unitel the right to operate in Angola as the first private mobile telecommunication network” (Oluwaseun, 2013). Dos Santos had the power to direct shareholdings and other projects. Angolans have come to the conclusion that Isabel’s 25% stake in the company was given to her by her dad though she said she invested her own capital. “Today, Unitel is Angola’s largest private company

On the part of Dos Santos, it questions whether or not he is an ethical leader or not and the above acts of accumulation of state wealth’s to his daughter leaving the country in a state of poverty shows a clear picture of corruption. State money, which could be used for the provision of infrastructure to develop the country, is being diverted into personal accounts. However, despite criticisms from Angolans and other individuals all over the world about her source of wealth been related to the mass number of poverty Angola is facing, Isabel ignores that fact and focuses on the middle class growing. For a woman whose wealth was derived from sudden shares in foreign business to talk about hard work is alarming to young and upcoming leaders who look up to the already existing leaders like her to become ethical and effective leaders. This aggravates the crisis she is facing at the moment since she hasn’t been able to justify her source of wealth to Angolans and the rest of the