Fortunes

The Rise and Rise of Afrikaner Tycoons

By: Ebbe Dommisse

Narrated by: Adrian Galley

A comprehensive work based on personal interviews and insider knowledge - bound to become a classic.

The past three decades have seen a remarkable rise of Afrikaners in business. With Koos Bekker at its helm, media group Naspers began dominating the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and was turned into a global consumer internet group. Johann Rupert strongly extended Richemont’s share internationally in the upper-end market of luxury goods, while Christo Wiese and Whitey Basson at Pepkor and Shoprite became Africa’s largest clothing and food retailers.

Fortunes describes how these and other business leaders, such as Jannie Mouton, Michiel le Roux, Douw Steyn, Roelof Botha, Hendrik du Toit and a number of commercial farmers, built their empires. It looks at their life and business philosophies and what makes them such successful entrepreneurs.

Recent years have also seen the sensational collapse of Steinhoff International, the furniture retailer led by Markus Jooste that destroyed some of these fortunes. While Jooste is the topic of one of the chapters, another looks at the philanthropic projects most of these tycoons are involved in.

©2021 Jonathan Ball (P)2021 Audible, Ltd

How far we have fallen

I enjoy learning about some great South African business Men and Women and the History of our wonderful country

Well researched & presented but too wide

I found the book well researched and well written, but felt it tried to cover too much ground.

Especially interesting is how it shows these legends as people, including their passions and folly.

While the book aimed (and succeeded) to highlight the positive achievements of Afrikaners in the modern South Africa and their (collective) commitment to the country and its people, I felt the final section was more of a political monologue.

All in all though a very worthwhile read.

Good listen

Overall a good book. Seems like these people live on another planet. I would recommend if you don't know anything about these business leaders.

Amazing, simply amazing

The stories and opinions collected by the author are spectacular, and provides deep insight into the Mega Rich in South Africa, and their business understanding.
The Steinhoff references throughout the book are golden nuggets indicating the train of events that led to the company's collapse, and the level of rot of Markus Jooste. Johan Rupert's dry humour and directness was another highlight. Massively recommended.

The breadth of research was impressive.

This started off as a great story, with business lessons and how to conduct oneself. However, the constant derision on white Britons and black individuals became monotonous. Credit is due though to how well-researched the book was.