Isabel dos Santos

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Isabel dos Santos

Isabel Kukanova dos Santos (born 20 April 1973) is an Angolan businesswoman and the eldest child of Angola’s former president José Eduardo dos Santos, who led the country from 1979 to 2017. She was born in Baku and grew up in the United Kingdom, where she studied engineering at King’s College London. She was married to Sindika Dokolo, who died in 2020, and they had three children.

In 2016 her father made her chair of Sonangol, Angola’s state oil company, a role she held until November 2017 when a new president dismissed her. Dos Santos built a large business network with stakes in telecoms, finance, and other sectors, especially in Angola and Portugal. She played a key role in deals involving Unitel in Angola and the Zon/Optimus group in Portugal, including the Zon Optimus merger and investments in banks.

Since 2018, the Angolan government has pursued corruption investigations related to her and family-linked deals. In December 2019, a Luanda court froze her Angolan bank accounts and seized assets such as her stake in Unitel and in Banco de Fomento Angola. Portugal also opened investigations in 2020, and she has lived in the United Arab Emirates since around that time.

In 2021 Forbes removed her from Africa’s richest list after asset freezes, and the U.S. government barred her and her family from entering the United States for alleged corruption. In 2022 Interpol issued a warrant for her arrest. A London court froze part of her assets in 2023, and in 2024 the British government sanctioned her, freezing UK assets and banning travel.

As of recent years, she has lived in Dubai and faced ongoing legal challenges over wealth built with the help of family influence. She remains a controversial figure in global business and politics.