Douw Gerbrand Steyn (19 December 1952 – 4 February 2025) was a South African

billionaire A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least 1,000,000,000, one billion units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. It is a sub-category of the concept of the ultr ...

businessman, the founder of

BGL Group BGL Group (formerly Budget Group Limited) is a financial services company based in Orton Southgate, Peterborough, England. Its main lines of business are vehicle and home insurance, with a range of supplementary products such as breakdown co ...

, a UK-based insurance and financial services company, and the parent of Comparethemarket.com. Steyn had links to South African politics, having housed former South African president

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela ( , ; born Rolihlahla Mandela; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist and politician who served as the first president of South Africa f ...

at the Saxon Hotel, Villas & Spa. According to The ''

Sunday Times Rich List The ''Sunday Times Rich List'' is a list of the 1,000 wealthiest people or families resident in the United Kingdom ranked by net wealth. The list is updated annually in April and has been published as a magazine supplement by British national ...

'' in 2021, Steyn had an estimated net worth of £2.05 billion, an increase of £1.1 billion from 2020.

Early life

Douw Gerbrand Steyn was born in December 1952. He went to school in Linden, Johannesburg. He received a bachelor's degree in 1978 from

Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education The Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education (abbreviated as PU for CHE) was a South African university located in Potchefstroom. Instruction was mainly in Afrikaans. In 2004, the university was merged with other institutions to cr ...

Career

Steyn began his career as a

quantity surveyor In the construction industry, a quantity surveyor (QS) is a professional with expert knowledge of construction costs and contracting. Qualified professional quantity surveyors can be known as Chartered Surveyors (Members and Fellows of RICS) i ...

at Eskom Mega Watt Park. Steyn founded

(which was founded as Budget Insurance Company in 1992), a UK-based insurance and financial services company, and the parent of Comparethemarket.com. In 2015, Steyn launched the development of a luxury private estate, Steyn City, on a site between Fourways and Lanseria 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 ...

. The project initially drew R6.5 billion in investment, with a further R5.5 billion invested in 2019. In April 2020, Steyn pledged R320 million to assist the coronavirus relief efforts in South Africa through the Douw Steyn Family Trust and the companies he founded.

Personal life and death

Steyn was in a relationship with Donne Botha from 2005 to 2009; and on the basis of an extravagant ceremony in London in 2007, Botha claimed in 2014 that they were married, and began a legal bid for half of his estate. In August 2021, the

Durban High Court The KwaZulu-Natal Division of the High Court of South Africa is a superior court of law with general jurisdiction over the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. The main seat of the division is at Pietermaritzburg, while a subordinate local seat ...

ruled that they were never married, and that a punitive cost order against Botha was warranted. In February 2013, he married

Carolyn Steyn Carolyn Steyn (née Barkhuizen; born 17 May 1960) is a South African media personality and founder of the non-profit organization, 67 Blankets for Nelson Mandela Day. In 2022, Carolyn Steyn received France, French Ordre national du Mérite. Ea ...

at the Saxon Boutique Hotel, where guests included

Graça Machel Graça Machel (; ; born 17 October 1945) is a Mozambique, Mozambican politician and humanitarian. Machel is an international advocate for women's and children's rights and was made an honorary Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire ...

Timothy Moloi Timothy Moloi (born 15 August 1975) is a South African singer and recording artist. Education Schooled in South Africa, Timothy Moloi went on to complete a Bachelor of Arts degree at Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio, in the United Sta ...

, and Michael de Pinna. Steyn died on 4 February 2025, at the age of 72.

References

External Links

* 1952 births 2025 deaths South African billionaires South African company founders {{SouthAfrica-business-bio-stub