Patrice Tlhopane Motsepe

Patrice Tlhopane Motsepe, right, is a South African mining business man. His company, African Rainbow Minerals (ARM), has interests in gold, ferrous metals, base metals, and platinum. Over 15 years Motsepe turned a low-level mining services business into the country's first black-owned mining company, African Rainbow Minerals, with 2007 revenue of $875 million. Driven by the Asian commodities boom, ARM's share price has rocketed in the past year from $12 to $24, pushing the value of Motsepe's net worth to $2.4 billion. Motsepe, a lawyer by training, serves as ARM's executive chairman, with a 42% stake in the company. He also owns a 5.5% stake worth $295 million in Sanlam, a publicly traded financial services company outside Cape Town.

He graduated from the University of Swaziland and then became one of the few black law graduates of the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. In 1988 he joined Bowman Gilfillan, one of South Africa's largest corporate law firms and in 1993 he became the firm's first black partner.

He is married to Dr. Precious Makgosi Moloi and they have three children.

(Wiki, Forbes, 3/24/2008))