Christoffel Wiese
Christoffel H. Wiese, BA, LLB (born 1941) is a businessman from South Africa. His source of wealth is consumer retail.[1][2] Wiese attended the Stellenbosch University in Stellenbosch, South Africa and was a resident there.
Wiese is married and has three children.
Career
Wiese is worth $2.7 billion and is the Executive Director of South African retail giant Shoprite (JSE: SHP).[1][2] Under his leadership, Shoprite started out as a chain of eight supermarkets in Cape Town that was purchased for 1 million Rand (equivalent to $122,000 USD) which eventually blossomed into the multi-billion dollar business status it enjoys today thanks to various acquisitions and innovative expansion strategies made in the first 30 years of operations. After playing a role in helping Shoprite acquire distributor Senta, Wiese started expanding his business into franchising new locations for Shoprite department stores.[3] He also purchased the struggling OK Bazaars from South African Breweries for one rand in 1997; inserting 157 supermarkets and 146 furniture stores to the company and adding jobs to the area.[3] In 2011, Wiese's Shoprite stores were considered to be the sixth overall favourite brand, with a third most valued brand in terms of community upliftment in South Africa.[3] In addition to Shoprite, Christoffel owns more than 1200 corporate outlets under various names.[4]
He is legally the 44% owner of Pepkor, which is a discount store in South Africa and has restored a South African farm and converted it into a five-star hotel called the Lanzerac Manor & Winery.[1][2] A private game reserve in the Kalahari Desert and the prestigious wine producer - the Lourensford Estate - are also his properties.[1][2] Wiese is the 782nd wealthiest person in the world and the third wealthiest person in South Africa.[1] The Cape Town Sakekamer awarded with the title of Business Leader of the Year while the South African Council of Shopping Centres awarded him with the prestigious Pioneer of the 20th Century Award.[5]
As of August 2012, Wiese officially owes more than $250 million in taxes to the Government of South Africa due to extra income coming in from gold and diamond deals. This money has been hidden in a deposit box in London, England for years before being discovered by British custom officials at a major airport in London.[6]
References
- ↑ a b c d e Chrisoffel Wiese at TheRichest.org
- ↑ a b c d Christoffel Wiese career information at Forbes.com
- ↑ a b c History. Shoprite, abgerufen am 25. April 2008.
- ↑ Shoprite Holdings Geographical Spread. Shoprite, abgerufen am 9. September 2011.
- ↑ Christoffel Wiese at Who's Whos SA
- ↑ South Africa’s third wealthiest man owes the taxman $250 million at Mining.com