B20 South Africa co-chair, Sir Mohamed Mansour, is a renowned Egyptian businessman and philanthropist, best known for his role as chairman of the Mansour Group, a multinational conglomerate with interests in automotive, capital markets, consumer and retail, industrial equipment, technology, logistics and services.
Mansour is also the chairman of Man Capital LLP, a London-based family office investment firm that provides long-term capital and strategic support to companies and organisations in a range of sectors including sport, education, renewable energy and logistics.
Born in 1948 into an entrepreneurial family, Mansour expanded the group into one of Africa’s largest privately held companies, with operations in over 100 countries – including South Africa, where the Mansour Group has a strong presence through Vanguard Logistics and where Man Capital has made investments in renewables and tech.
His other investments include Right to Dream, a global community of sports academies and educational establishments that owns a Major League Soccer club in San Diego, California, a Danish top-flight football club, and a football club and academy in Cairo, Egypt.
Educated as an undergraduate at North Carolina State University, Mansour began his career in academia after completing an MBA at Auburn University, before joining the family business. Under his leadership, the Mansour Group forged partnerships with brands like Caterpillar, General Motors and McDonald’s, driving economic growth and job creation across emerging markets.
Knighted in 2024 by King Charles III for services to charity, business and political service, Mansour also supports female founders through the Lead Foundation, a not-for-profit lender with branches across Egypt. His legacy as a bridge-builder between Africa and the global economy resonates deeply across Africa.
Does the Mansour Group or Man Capital do any work in the digital economy that could help the Digital Transformation Task Force (DTTF) in its work?
Ever since I was transfixed by a speaker at an event many years ago who gazed into a metaphorical crystal ball and told those of us in the audience that one day patients would be assessed not by a human doctor but by a computer, I have been drawn to technologies that seek to change the world and bring social as well as economic good.
From being among the first entrepreneurs from the Middle East and Africa to realise the potential of social media to more recently recognising the opportunity that AI provides, my investment team and I have scoured the globe for technologies that promise to transform societies and create opportunities for under-served communities.
It is why some of the tech companies we invest in, and are so enthusiastic about, are developing AI tools for educators in Africa, such as South Africa’s Mindjoy, who we have invested in via our partners, the Africa-focused P1 Ventures.
What has been the most eye-opening aspect of your time and work with the DTTF?
It has reminded me both of the scale of the opportunity, and the challenge that we face. With the right strategy, AI is the biggest lever that Africa can pull to close the gap with developed countries and accelerate access to education, healthcare and economic inclusion across the continent.
But there are many challenges, and none of this is easy. We talked a lot in the DTTF about the greater levels of funding we will need from big institutions like pensions, endowments and sovereign wealth funds. This capital will need to be deployed in privately held start-ups across the continent for Africa to seize this opportunity.
We also focused on the educational piece of the jigsaw in the task force. We must teach the next generation to use AI and other transformative technologies. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for Africa, which will take ambitious public and private sector partnerships to realise. We can do it, but as the task force and I recognise, we need to work together, and we need to start the work now.
