Isabel Dos Santos Is Africa's First Woman Billionaire...Forbes

The clue was in the wedding. When Angola's Isabel dos Santos, the oldest daughter of Angolan President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos, married a Congolese art collector in 2003, there were reports that a choir was flown in from Belgium and two charter planes delivered food from France. African presidents were among 100 guests at the extravaganza, which cost an estimated $4m (£2.5m).

Over the past few years Isabel dos Santos has been buying more shares of publicly traded companies in Portugal, including shares in a bank and a cable TV company. Those stakes, combined with assets Isabel dos Santos owns in at least one bank in Angola, have pushed her net worth over the $1 billion mark, according to research by FORBES, making the 40-year-old Africa’s first woman billionaire.