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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.<\/p>\n
Steyn, known for his global success in the insurance industry, died on Tuesday following a long period of illness.<\/p>\n
He was regarded in South Africa as a “visionary” with a “larger than life character”.<\/p>\n
Steyn first befriend Mandela shortly after the former president was released from his decades-long imprisonment on Robben Island.<\/p>\n
Steyn’s death was confirmed by Steyn City Properties, the company behind the luxury estate he developed around 2010.<\/p>\n
The company said Steyn would be “remembered as an exceptional entrepreneur who built a global business of immense scale across seven countries.<\/p>\n
The Nelson Mandela Foundation said it mourned the death of “someone Madiba [Mandela] regarded as a friend”.<\/p>\n
“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.”<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Mandela spent 27 years in prison for campaigning to end white-minority rule.<\/p>\n
Eighteen of those years were spent on Robben Island, an island off Cape Town.<\/p>\n
Steyn began his entrepreneurial journey in 1975 when he founded Steyn’s Insurance Brokers, according to South African daily business website BusinessLIVE.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
He also established the Steyn Foundation, which is aimed at supporting its impoverished townships.<\/p>\n
He leaves behind his wife and three children.<\/p>\n