How you become rich counts

I have the utmost respect for millionaires who have worked smarter – finding a gap in the market, to come up with a highly sought-after product or service.

These are people who daily ensure that their time and brain translate into the bottom-line – coming up with strategies to maximise earnings into hundreds more millions.

Among many of those I admire is 31-year-old Steven Bartlett, a British-Nigerian entrepreneur and podcaster. Author of the best-selling The Diary of a CEO, I met Bartlett during his short visit to South Africa and was blown away by his approach to business opportunities, having made a success from humble beginnings.

“At the very heart of all the successes and failures I’ve been exposed to – both my own entrepreneurial journey and through the thousands of interviews I’ve conducted on my podcast – is a set of principles that can stand the test of time, apply to any industry and be used by anyone who is in search of building something great or becoming someone great,” Bartlett said.

ALSO READ: Angola’s Isabel dos Santos says victim of ‘political persecution’

These, he says, are “fundamental laws that will ensure excellence”.

Nothing better than hard work paying off; not spending sleepless nights agonising over a prospect of going to jail for embezzling taxpayers’ money; for years hiding behind being the daughter of a powerful father.

But the chickens have come home to roost for Isabel dos Santos, billionaire daughter of the late Angolan president José Eduardo dos Santos, once described by Forbes as “the richest woman in Africa”, with a net worth exceeding $2 billion, or nearly R37 billion.

Unlike Bartlett, Dos Santos did not earn her billions through hard work. It has been suggested that her wealth was acquired by taking stakes in companies doing business in Angola, with her riches coming almost entirely from her family’s power and connections.

ALSO READ: Isabel dos Santos ordered to return Galp shares to Angola

Dos Santos has been dogged by controversy, with Forbes having dropped her from its list in 2021, after the freezing of her assets in Angola, Portugal and the Netherlands.

The Angolan government, which has since 2018 been trying to prosecute Dos Santos for corruption that may have led to Angola’s ongoing recession, has now tightened the screws on the daughter of the once-mighty political royalty.

The Angolan Supreme Court has ordered the seizure of assets belonging to Dos Santos¸ accused of embezzlement, influence peddling, and money laundering – plundering the state to more than €1 billion.

The court has also called for the freezing of 70% of the shares of Mozambique telecommunications company Mstar.

ALSO READ: Isabel dos Santos seeks to revoke asset freeze over ‘forged’ passport

With her assets in Portugal set to be confiscated, she and her family have been barred by the US state department from entering America, citing “significant corruption by misappropriating public funds for her personal benefit”.

The Dos Santos scandal is a case study for Africa and the world to draw lessons from on how not to abuse proximity to political power for narrow personal interests.

While the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture has chronicled events, which led to the hollowing out of state-owned enterprises during the nine years of the Jacob Zuma presidency, indications are that the current administration is far from being squeaky clean.

While we would have expected to see a business unusual approach when Cyril Ramaphosa took office, we have witnessed a litany of inefficiencies, with worst-performing ministers being retained.

As seen in the case of Dos Santos, the trappings of public office or political connections, cannot serve as permanent cover.