Nicky Oppenheimer was born into one of South Africa’s most formidable diamond-mining families, but when hard times hit, he had to leave the family business.
Despite being the second-richest man in South Africa with a net worth of $9.5 billion (R171 billion) and being part of one of the country’s most influential families, Oppenheimer is incredibly reserved and humble. Nicholas Frank Oppenheimer was born in 1945 in Johannesburg into a diamond dynasty.
His grandfather, Ernest, was the first generation of the family to chair the De Beers diamond mining company in South Africa, founded by Cecil Rhodes in 1888. At 21, Ernest, the son of a German cigar merchant, was sent by a London trading company to South Africa to buy diamonds – a trade he quickly mastered. By 30, he had become the mayor of the diamond town of Kimberley.
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