The Most Famous

BUSINESSPEOPLE from South Africa

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This page contains a list of the greatest South African Businesspeople. The pantheon dataset contains 847 Businesspeople, 3 of which were born in South Africa. This makes South Africa the birth place of the 38th most number of Businesspeople behind Australia, and Finland.

Top 3

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary South African Businesspeople of all time. This list of famous South African Businesspeople is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography's online popularity.

Photo of Mark Shuttleworth

1. Mark Shuttleworth (b. 1973)

With an HPI of 55.10, Mark Shuttleworth is the most famous South African Businessperson.  His biography has been translated into 60 different languages on wikipedia.

Mark Richard Shuttleworth (born 18 September 1973) is a South African and British entrepreneur, founder and CEO of Canonical, the company behind the Ubuntu Linux operating system. In 2002, Shuttleworth became the first African to travel to space, doing so as a space tourist. He holds dual citizenship from South Africa and the United Kingdom. As of 2020, the Sunday Times Rich List estimated Shuttleworth's worth at £500 million.

Photo of Kimbal Musk

2. Kimbal Musk (b. 1972)

With an HPI of 53.52, Kimbal Musk is the 2nd most famous South African Businessperson.  His biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Kimbal James Musk (born 20 September 1972) is a businessman and restaurateur. He co-owns The Kitchen Restaurant Group, with restaurants in Colorado, Chicago, and Austin. He is the co-founder and chairman of Big Green, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that has built hundreds of outdoor classrooms called Learning Gardens in schoolyards across the United States. Musk is also the co-founder and chairman of Square Roots, an urban farming company growing food in hydroponic, indoor, climate controlled shipping containers. Musk sits on the boards of Tesla Inc., SpaceX, and the Burning Man Project; his older brother Elon is the CEO of the former two companies. He was on the board of Chipotle Mexican Grill from 2013 to 2019. He is the brother of Elon Musk, Tosca Musk, son of Errol and Maye Musk, and a major shareholder in Tesla. In 1995 he co-founded, with Elon, the software company Zip2, which was acquired by Compaq for $307 million in 1999.

Photo of Ryk Neethling

3. Ryk Neethling (b. 1977)

With an HPI of 33.46, Ryk Neethling is the 3rd most famous South African Businessperson.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Ryk Neethling OIS (born 17 November 1977) is a South African businessman who rose to prominence as a three-time World Aquatic Champion and four-time World Record breaking Olympic swimming champion, participating in four Olympics for South Africa from 1996-2008. He won a gold medal in the 4x100 freestyle relay at the 2004 Athens Olympics, and is known as one of the most accomplished South African swimmers in history. He would later serve as the CEO of the Princess Charlene of Monaco Foundation South Africa, and found the Ryk Neethling Swimming Schools. Born in Bloemfontein, S.A. on 17 November 1977, he attended Grey College, and was coached by Simon Gray at the Seals Swim Club of Bloemfontein. In 1994, Ryk eclipsed the 1500m freestyle South African record by ten seconds, formerly set by his own coach Simon Gray in 1976. Around 18, he captured the 400 and 1500m freestyle competition at the 1995 South African swimming championships. During his time at Grey College, he gained national recognition as a swimmer, earning a place with the South African swimming team for the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. He enrolled at the University of Arizona after the 1996 games.

People

Pantheon has 3 people classified as South African businesspeople born between 1972 and 1977. Of these 3, 3 (100.00%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living South African businesspeople include Mark Shuttleworth, Kimbal Musk, and Ryk Neethling. As of April 2024, 3 new South African businesspeople have been added to Pantheon including Mark Shuttleworth, Kimbal Musk, and Ryk Neethling.

Living South African Businesspeople

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Newly Added South African Businesspeople (2024)

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