South African billionaire and businessman Douw Steyn, who founded the BGL Insurance Group and was a good friend of late South African statesman Nelson Mandela, has died aged 77.
Steyn, known for his global success in the insurance industry, died on Tuesday following a long period of illness.
He was regarded in South Africa as a “visionary” with a “larger than life character”.
Steyn first befriend Mandela shortly after the former president was released from his decades-long imprisonment on Robben Island.
Steyn’s death was confirmed by Steyn City Properties, the company behind the luxury estate he developed around 2010.
The company said Steyn would be “remembered as an exceptional entrepreneur who built a global business of immense scale across seven countries.
The Nelson Mandela Foundation said it mourned the death of “someone Madiba [Mandela] regarded as a friend”.
“He [Steyn] supported Madiba in numerous ways over many years. During 1992 Madiba lived in [Steyn’s] home as he navigated his way through a very painful separation from Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.”
South Africa’s first democratically elected president also “frequently turned to” Steyn “when he needed spaces for retreat or support for his projects”, according to the foundation.
Mandela spent 27 years in prison for campaigning to end white-minority rule.
Eighteen of those years were spent on Robben Island, an island off Cape Town.
Steyn began his entrepreneurial journey in 1975 when he founded Steyn’s Insurance Brokers, according to South African daily business website BusinessLIVE.
This would pave the way for the establishment of one of the country’s leading groups, Auto & General, and later BGL Insurance in the UK in the 90s.
He also established the Steyn Foundation, which is aimed at supporting its impoverished townships.
He leaves behind his wife and three children.
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