Sir Sam Jonah's Profile..

Sir Samuel E. Jonah (Exec Chairman, Jonah Capital)

Sir Samuel E. Jonah is one of Africa's most prominent businessmen, a giant in global business, and internationally recognized as a leading business executive.

Born in Obuasi on 9th November, 1949(age 66), Sir Sam Jonah had his high-school education at Adisadel College in Cape Coast, Ghana, then earned an Associateship in Mining Engineering at the Camborne School of Mines, Cornwall, England, and subsequently an MSc. Mine Management at the Imperial College of Science and Technology, London.

Sam Jonah’s career began in 1969 at the Obuasi gold-mine. He became deputy CEO of its holding company Ashanti Goldfields at the age of 31. He was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Ashanti Goldfields Company Limited in 1986 and oversaw its growth from a one-mine operation into a multinational. In 1996, Ashanti, which had listings in London and Ghana, became the first operating African company to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange. He became Executive President of AngloGold Ashanti Ltd (world’s second largest gold producer) in May 2004 when Ashanti was merged with AngloGold Limited. He is currently the Executive Chairman of Jonah Capital Limited, an investment holding company in South Africa.

Sam Jonah has been decorated with many awards and honours. In 1994 the Camborne School of Mines and the University of Exeter (UK) jointly awarded him an Honorary Doctor of Science degree. In December 2005, Ashesi University College through its affiliate University in Ghana, University of Cape Coast, awarded Sam the Honorary Doctor of Humanities degree for his excellent and illustrious career as a Mining Engineer, Chief Executive, Director, Management Consultant, Diplomat, Educationist and Administrator. In 2003 Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Head of the Commonwealth, conferred on him an Honorary Knighthood as Knight Commander of the Civil Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE). The award was in recognition of his exceptional achievements as a businessman, a leading business executive from the Commonwealth and an international public figure. In 2006 he was awarded Ghana’s highest national award, the Companion of the Order of the Star.

In December 2004, CNN and Time Magazine ranked him as one of the world’s top 25  most influential business people - setting the global standards for management, ethics, marketing and innovation. He is the recipient of three Lifetime Achievement awards, the most recent being the one conferred on him in June 2010 by the Commonwealth Business Council and the African Business Magazine for his outstanding contribution to the development of the private sector in Africa. Most recently, in March 2011, he was profiled as Mining Personality of the month in Martin Creamer’s Mining Weekly publication.

Sam Jonah is the Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast Ghana, a Member of the Board of Ashesi University in Ghana, a Visiting Professor of Business at The University of Witwatersrand Business School of Johannesburg and a member of its governing council as well as Trustee of the Nelson Mandela Legacy Trust (UK). He was a Founding Member The United Nations Secretary General’s Global Compact Advisory Council; a member of The African Regional Advisory Board of the London Business School, served as a member of the Governing Body of the School of Oriental and African Studies and a Trustee of the Camborne School of Mines. In 2003, he was co-chairman of the World Economic Forum held in Durban, South Africa; he was on the Advisory Council of the President of the African Development Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC).

Sam has been an advisor to a number of African Heads of State and he currently serves on the International Investment Advisory Councils of Nigeria and Togo. Most recently, in January 2013, he was appointed to serve on the newly established Bank of America Global Advisory Council, together with internationally recognized business, academic and public policy leaders.