William Peter Venter (born 29 July 1934, in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

) is a South African businessman, entrepreneur and industrialist. Venter founded Allied Electronics Corporation (Altron) in 1965. Acquisitions under his leadership included Bytes Technology Group in 1998 (following a demerger in December 2020, Bytes Technology Group became a listed entity its own right).

Awards

* 2006 Top 100 Lifetime Achiever (''Sunday Times Business Times'') * 1991

Order for Meritorious Service The Order for Meritorious Service is a South African National Order that consisted of two classes, in gold and silver, and was awarded to deserving South African citizens. The order was discontinued on 2 December 2002.Rand Afrikaans University The Rand Afrikaans University (RAU) (Afrikaans: ''Randse Afrikaanse Universiteit'') was a prominent South African institution of higher education and research that served the greater Johannesburg area and surroundings from 1967 to 2004. It ha ...

Business Management cum laude * 2001 Master of Business Administration

University of Wales The University of Wales () is a confederal university based in Cardiff, Wales. Founded by royal charter in 1893 as a federal university with three constituent colleges – Aberystwyth, Bangor and Cardiff – the university was the first universit ...

Honorary degrees

* Doctor of Engineering

University of the Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), commonly known as Wits University or Wits, is a multi-campus Public university, public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg, South Africa. The universit ...

* Technical Doctorate

Technikon Witwatersrand The Technikon Witwatersrand was a technikon located in South Africa. On 1 January 2005, it merged with Rand Afrikaans University and the Soweto and East Rand campuses of Vista University to form the University of Johannesburg The Universi ...

* Doctor of Commerce

University of the Free State The University of the Free State (; Sotho language, Sesotho: ''Yunivesithi ya Freistata'') is a multi-campus public university in Bloemfontein, the capital of the Free State (province), Free State and the judicial capital of South Africa. It wa ...

* Doctor of Commerce

University of Pretoria The University of Pretoria (, ) is a multi-campus public university, public research university in Pretoria, the administrative and ''de facto'' capital of South Africa. The university was established in 1908 as the Pretoria campus of the Johan ...

* Doctor of Commerce

University of Port Elizabeth The University of Port Elizabeth (UPE) was a public university located in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. UPE was founded on 31 January 1964, by an act of parliament, and held its first academic year in 1965. It off ...

* Doctor of Science (Engineering)

University of Natal The University of Natal was a university in the former South African province Natal which later became KwaZulu-Natal. The University of Natal no longer exists as a distinct legal entity, as it was incorporated into the University of KwaZulu- ...

, Durban

Personal life

He has four sons and a daughter. Two of his two sons, Robert and Craig, were from his first marriage to Jean Georgina Poole. In 1994, Edith, Venter's second wife and mother of two of his sons, was awarded a record R12-million divorce settlement. She was married for the third time in 1995 to Johannesburg businessman Garth Carstens. * Robert Eben "Robbie" Venter, born 7 May 1960, is chairman of Aberdare Cables and Director of Bytes Technology Group Ltd., Allied Technologies Ltd (Altech), and Group chief executive of Allied Electronics Corp Ltd (Altron). * Craig Gordon Venter was born 4 July 1962. He studied at

University of California Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the Cal ...

and obtained a BSc (Econ), a BA (Psychology) and an MBA and MSc (Management Science) from

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

References

External links

Who's Who in South Africa
{{DEFAULTSORT:Venter, Bill Afrikaner people South African people of Dutch descent South African businesspeople 1934 births Living people Rand Afrikaans University alumni