People

Browse published biographies by name, field and status.

23 published profiles

Photo: South African History Online · Copyright retained by source · Source

Business · Historical

Anton Rupert

Industrialist and conservationist

South African industrialist, Rembrandt founder and conservationist whose business forms part of the origins of Remgro and Richemont.

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Portrait of Captain Allen Francis Gardiner, missionary and one of the principal founders of Durban.

Photo: Unknown artist via Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Source

Public life · Historical

Captain Allen Francis Gardiner

Missionary, civic founder and Royal Navy officer

British naval officer, missionary, explorer and one of the principal civic founders of Durban.

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Portrait of Professor Noel Chabani Manganyi.

Photo: Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study · Rights review pending · Source

Science · Historical

Chabani Manganyi

Psychologist, author and higher-education leader

South African psychologist, author and higher-education leader whose work examined Black identity, violence and the psychological effects of apartheid.

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Castle Lager sign used as a representative image for Charles Glass

Photo: Ossewa / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 4.0; cropped and resized · Source

Business · Historical

Charles Glass

Brewer and founder

Brewer credited with Castle Lager and the 1895 founding story of South African Breweries.

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Portrait of Desmond Tutu in Washington, DC, in 1999

Photo: John Mathew Smith · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Source

Public life · Historical

Desmond Tutu

Anglican bishop and peace advocate

South African Anglican archbishop, 1984 Nobel Peace Prize laureate and chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

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Historic Barloworld facility used as a representative image for founder Ernest Barlow

Photo: Caterpillar · Copyright Caterpillar, editorial use only, resized and converted to WebP · Source

Business · Historical

Ernest Barlow

Merchant and company founder

Founder of Thomas Barlow & Sons, the Durban agency that became Barloworld.

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Investec’s Sandton head office used as a representative image for Errol Grolman

Photo: Investec · Copyright, editorial use only · Source

Business · Historical

Errol Grolman

Investor and company builder

South African business builder and one of the three original founders named by Investec.

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Sasol’s Secunda industrial complex, used as a representative image for Etienne Rousseau’s company-building work

Photo: AntimatterMachine / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

Business · Historical

Etienne Rousseau

Chemical engineer and founding managing director

South African chemical engineer, first Sasol employee and founding managing director who led the company’s initial industrial development.

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Historic restaurant and founding-family images associated with George Halamandres

Photo: BusinessTech · Copyright BusinessTech or its supplier, editorial use only, cropped and converted to WebP · Source

Business · Historical

George Halamandres

Restaurant founder and company builder

South African restaurant founder who developed the ventures behind Steers and Famous Brands.

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Entrance to a Foschini fashion store in a South African shopping centre

Photo: Reuters · Copyright Reuters, editorial use only · Source

Business · Historical

George Ivan Rosenthal

Retail founder

American founder of Foschini, the South African fashion retailer from which TFG developed.

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Portrait of SABMiller chief executive Graham Mackay at the World Economic Forum on Africa

Photo: World Economic Forum / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0; cropped and resized · Source

Business · Historical

Graham Mackay

Brewing executive and company builder

South African executive who led SAB’s transformation into the international brewer SABMiller.

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Photo: Michael Borkson · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Source

Arts · Historical

Hugh Masekela

Musician, composer and singer

South African trumpeter, flugelhornist, composer and singer whose career joined music with anti-apartheid cultural activism.

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Entrance to a Clicks store in Constantia Village, Cape Town

Photo: Husskeyy / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0; cropped and resized · Source

Business · Historical

Jack Goldin

Retail entrepreneur

South African retailer who founded Clicks in Cape Town in 1968 and conceived it as a drugstore.

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Representative image of the historic Tiger Oats complex associated with Jacob Frankel’s business

Photo: Christopher Murphy / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped and converted to WebP · Source

Business · Historical

Jacob Frankel

Food manufacturer and company founder

Founder of the Newtown oats business that developed into Tiger Oats and Tiger Brands.

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Painted portrait of Old Mutual founder John Fairbairn

Photo: William Howard Schroder / Cape Town Chamber of Commerce · Public domain — faithful reproduction of a public-domain painting · Source

Business · Historical

John Fairbairn

Newspaper proprietor, educator, politician and company founder

Scottish-born Cape newspaper proprietor, educator and politician who founded Old Mutual’s predecessor in 1845.

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Statue of Standard Bank founder John Paterson in Hong Kong

Photo: Can Pac Swire · Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic · Source

Business · Historical

John Paterson

Entrepreneur, newspaperman and politician

Cape entrepreneur, newspaperman and politician who led the plan that created the historic Standard Bank.

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Woolworths store in Johannesburg, representing the retail business founded by Max Sonnenberg

Photo: Nick-D / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

Business · Historical

Max Sonnenberg

Retail founder

Founder of the South African Woolworths retail business, which opened its first Cape Town store in 1931.

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Nelson Mandela in Washington, DC, in 1994

Photo: John Mathew Smith · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Source

Public life · Historical

Nelson Mandela

Political leader and president

South African anti-apartheid leader and president from 1994 to 1999.

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Charles Sydney Punch Barlow in a Barloworld annual report

Photo: Barloworld · Copyright Barloworld, editorial use only, cropped from an annual report and converted to WebP · Source

Business · Historical

Punch Barlow

Industrialist and company builder

Company builder who secured the Caterpillar dealership that shaped Barloworld’s equipment business.

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Photo: Arena Holdings · Copyright retained by source publication · Source

Business · Historical

Raymond Ackerman

Retail founder

South African retailer who founded Pick n Pay with Wendy Ackerman in 1967 after acquiring four Cape Town stores.

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A PEP store in Prince Albert, Western Cape

Photo: Suzi-k / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source

Business · Historical

Renier van Rooyen

Retail founder

South African retail founder who opened the first PEP store in De Aar in 1965.

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Photo: Reuters · Copyright Reuters, editorial use only · Source

Business · Historical

Stanley Lewis

Retail investor and company builder

Controlling investor and company builder who expanded Foschini into a diversified South African retail group.

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Historical portrait of Sanlam and Santam chair Willie Hofmeyr

Photo: Nasionale Boekhandel / Bob Shop seller scan · Copyright status not confirmed, editorial use only · Source

Business · Historical

Willie Hofmeyr

Lawyer, business organiser and company chair

South African lawyer and business organiser who became the first chair of Santam and Sanlam in 1918.

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