Billionaires List: Debutant Nations And Their Rich Men
These entrepreneurs put their countries on the billionaire map for the first time
Swaziland
Nathan Kirsh
$3.1 billion
Started with a corn milling business in 1958; now supplies groceries and goods to New York City restaurants and bodegas. Bought London’s second-tallest building for $455 million.
Angola
Isabel Dos Santos
$2 billion
The oldest daughter of Angola’s longtime president, she is the richest woman in Africa. Holdings include 25 percent stake in mobile phone network Unitel, plus banking assets in Portugal.
Vietnam
Pham Nhat Vuong
$1.5 billion
Studied in Moscow before launching instant-noodle fad in Ukraine. Moved back to Vietnam in 2001 to make a big play in local condos and luxury resorts through his Vingroup.
Nepal
Binod Chaudhary
$1 billion
The fitness fanatic who hikes in the Himalayas controls an international fortune that stretches from Nepal’s Nabil Bank to a joint venture with India’s Taj hotel chain.
Welcome to the Club
This year 210 people joined the Forbes billionaires ranks. Doughnuts and yogurt fuelled two of them
Peru
Fernando Belmont
$2.2 billion
Cosmetics
The Peruvian entrepreneur owns Yanbal International, a fast-growing door-to-door cosmetics company with estimated sales of $720 million. He has expanded the firm beyond Peru, to Spain and eight Latin American countries.
Canada
Ronald Joyce
$1.2 billion
Restaurants
Canada’s ‘Doughnut King’ joins this year’s Billionaires list after Forbes uncovered previously undisclosed assets. He sold his doughnut chain to Wendy’s for $600 million in 1995. His fortune grew with investments in dividend-paying Canadian firms.
Russia
Arkady Volozh
$1.15 billion
Internet
Arkady Volozh is a principal founder and largest individual shareholder of search engine Yandex, the Russian language Google. Yandex owns 60 percent of the Russian search market; Google just 26 percent.
Turkey
Hamdi Ulukaya
$1.1 billion
Yogurt
Ulukaya is founder, president and CEO of Chobani Inc, maker of Chobani Greek yogurt, headquartered in New York State. Since shipping out its first order in 2007, the company’s annual sales have grown to nearly $1 billion.
Images:
Kirsh: Getty Images; Vuong: Justin Mott / Redux For Forbes; Chaudhary: Getty Images; Ronald Joyce, Arkady Volozh: Getty Images;
Hamdi Ulukaya: Lucas Jackson / Reuters
(This story appears in the 05 April, 2013 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)
