This is what South Africa’s billionaires studied

·12 Mar 2017

Hurun Global has released its 2017 Rich List, in which it ranked 2,257 billionaires from 68 countries and from 1,811 companies in another record-breaking year for the world’s super-rich.

Total billionaire wealth increased by 16% to US$8.0 trillion, the group said, equivalent to 10.7% of global GDP, and up from 7% of global GDP five years ago. Chinese billionaires led the USA for the second year running, with 609 featured on the list, compared to 552 from the States.

Some six South African’s appeared on the list (the same number as in 2015) while the majority profited from a stronger rand in 2016.

Unsurprisingly De Beers’ Nicky Oppenheimer took top spot, while Christo Wiese (Pepkor), Johann Rupert (Remgro), Koos Bekker (Naspers), Patrice Motsepe (African Rainbow Minerals) and Stephen Saad (Aspen) rounded off the list.

While all of these businessmen can claim to have brilliant financial, legal and management knowledge – not all of them are internationally educated or even hold a formal degree.

Name	University	Qualification
Nicky Oppenheimer	University of ChristChurch & Oxford University	PPE and Oxford MA
Christo Wiese	University of Stellenbosch	BA LLB
Johann Rupert	University of Stellenbosch	Did not finish (awarded honorary DCom from NMMU)
Koos Bekker	Stellenbosch University & University of the Witwatersrand	BA LLB (Literature)
Patrice Motsepe	University of Swaziland & University of the Witwatersrand	BA LLB
Stephen Saad	University of Natal	Bcom

Worldwide

In 2016, The Telegraph published a list of the most popular degrees among the richest people around the world. The ranking was based on the qualifications of the current top 100 and did not take into account those who do not currently have a professional qualification.