NICKY OPPENHEIMER

Nicholas Frank Oppenheimer, ranked third on the list of the richest people in Africa, was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, on June 8, 1945, the third generation of a mining family. After graduating from Oxford with degrees in politics, philosophy, and economics, Nicky entered the family company at the age of 23. His first position was as a personal assistant to his father, the chairman of Anglo American. He became chairman of De Beers in 1998, and after the firm lost its near-monopoly on the diamond distribution industry in 2000, he was tasked with revamping the company's economic strategy. Another task was to rid the corporation of its ties to so-called "blood diamonds," which were trafficked through conflict zones. The business assisted in the creation of the Kimberley Process certification method in 2003, which tries to keep conflict diamonds out of the market.

In August 2012, the Oppenheimer family sold their remaining 40% interest in De Beers to Anglo American for $5.2 billion, bringing the diamond dynasty's 80-year reign to an end. At the time, Nicholas Oppenheimer told Bloomberg News that he wanted to spend part of the selling earnings in Africa. Tana Africa Capital, his Africa-focused private equity joint venture with Temasek Holdings, was already up and running. He and his son Jonathan own Tswalu Kalahari, South Africa's largest private game reserve, as supporters of wilderness conservation.

Net worth: $8.7 billion

Industry: Metals and mining

Country: South Africa