Angola president's daughter 'Africa's first female billionaire'

Africa's first female billionaire is the daughter of Angolan president Jose Eduardo Dos Santos.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Daughter of Angola's president named by Forbes as Africa's first female billionaire
• Isabel Dos Santos has widespread business interests in Angola and Portugal
• Angola is Africa's second-largest oil producer
• The country is one of the most unequal societies in the world

(CNN) -- Businesswoman Isabel Dos Santos, daughter of long-serving Angolan president Jose Eduardo Dos Santos, is Africa's first female billionaire, according to business publication Forbes.

The 40-year-old's investments in publicly traded companies in Portugal, including shares in a cable TV firm, as well her assets in at least one Angolan bank, "have pushed her net worth over the $1 billion mark," said the magazine, known for its annual rich lists.

Her first business endeavor was in 1997 when she opened a restaurant in Angola's capital, Luanda, according to the magazine. Since then, she's expanded her business interests to a number of industries, sitting on the boards of several Angolan and Portuguese companies.

A former Portuguese colony, Angola is the second largest oil producer in the continent. Over the last decade, the southwestern African country has emerged from the wreckage of a 27-year civil war to become one of the continent's major economic players.

Angola rises from the ashes of 27-year civil war

Read also: Angola's post-war generation

President Dos Santos, who has been in power since 1979, has presided over Angola's post-war economic growth and rebuilding efforts. He won a new term last year when the ruling MPLA party was declared winner of the August 31 elections.

Greased by growing oil revenues and China's credit lines of billions of dollars, Angola's economy rocketed by an average annual growth of 17% from 2004 to 2008 before falling to single-digit figures after the 2008 global financial crisis.

Read also: Where is Angola's oil money?

But despite the heady financial data and the progress made since the end of the war in 2002, Angola still remains one of the most unequal societies in the world. The country, which has a population of some 18 million people, ranks 148th out of 187 countries in theU.N.'s Human Development Index.

Read also: Is oil-rich Angola a development success?

Corruption is also prevalent, with Angola ranked 157th out of 176 countries and territories on Transparency International's 2012 Corruption Perceptions Index.

"Corruption is a major problem and the perception of corruption in Angola by investors is increasing," says Alex Vines, head of the Africa Program at London-based think tank Chatham House.

According to Forbes, Isabel Dos Santos is the biggest shareholder in Zon Multimedia, the biggest cable TV operator in Portugal, owning a 28.8% stake. She also has a 19.5% holding at Banco BPI, one of Portugal's largest publicly traded banks.

Forbes said that in Angola, the president's daughter sits on the board of Banco BIC and is reported to own a 25% stake in the bank.

"There is nothing wrong with the president's daughter being a business entrepreneur as long as she's obtained those contracts in an open and competitive process," says Vines.