Christo Wiese
| Christoffel H. Wiese | |
|---|---|
| Born |
10 September 1941 Upington |
| Residence | Brackenfell, Cape Town, South Africa |
| Nationality | South African |
| Education | Paarl Boys' High School |
| Alma mater | University of Stellenbosch |
| Occupation | Chairman and 44% owner, Pepkor |
| Net worth | $5.3 billion (January 2015) |
| Children | Jacob Wiese, and two daughters |
Christoffel F. Hendrik Wiese (born 10 September 1941) is a South African businessman. His source of wealth is consumer retail.
Wiese studied at Paarl Boys' High School in the Western Cape region of South Africa. Wiese attended Stellenbosch University, from where he received BA and LLB degrees.
After university, Wiese practised law at the Cape Bar for some years before working as a Director at Pepkor, the discount clothing chain that his parents helped to found.
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 grew into a multibillion-dollar business due to various acquisitions and 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. 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. 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. In addition to Shoprite, Wiese owns more than 1200 corporate outlets under various names. Shares of Shoprite rose by 50% on the South African stock market from March 2011 to March 2012, with Wiese making a $1.5 billion profit.
Wiese has a net worth of $6.8 billion and is the Executive Director of South African retail giant Shoprite (JSE: SHP). Wiese has been chairman of Invicta Holdings Limited since 2006. Wiese has become the 11th most successful businessman in his chosen fields of industry (accounting, banking, finance, consumer goods, fashion, and retail) and the 69th most successful person in South African history.
He is the 44% owner of Pepkor since becoming the chairman there in 1981 and starting out as an executive director for the retail store Pep from 1967 to 1973. Pepkor is a discount store in South Africa that was founded in 1965. A private game reserve in the Kalahari Desert and the prestigious wine producer - the Lourensford Estate - are some of the properties that Wiese owns. Wiese is the 367th wealthiest person in the world and the third wealthiest person in South Africa. 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.
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