Cristina Hodgson
GAMBLING, fashion, agriculture and Coca-Cola are the main sectors behind the five richest people in Andalucia.
It’s that time of the year again when The Forbes’ Rich List has revealed Spain’s top 100 earners, with only a few born in Andalucia.
Much like every year, the list of top 100 earners in Spain is headed by Inditex fashion mogul Amancio Ortega, who this year has a staggering net worth of €57 billion.
Ortega, whose empire includes Zara and Massimo Dutti, is in a league of his own. Even his own daughter, who is second on the list with €5.6 billion, doesn’t come close.
Among the names, what prevails among the richest people in Spain are not the singers or well-known celebrities, but the country’s businessmen, investors and great industrialists.
Spain’s Forbes rich list includes the following five from Andalucia:
1. Manuel Lao (€1.4 billion)
The former owner of Cirsa, the gambling company, is the richest Andalucian in Spain. Born in Almeria, he moved at a young age to Catalunya, from where he built an empire that became valued at more than €2 billion.
Lao is one of the least known faces on the list of Spanish billionaires, elusive to public life.
2. Rafael Dominguez de Gor (€500 million)
Rafael Dominguez de Gor is the owner of the Mayoral clothing brand, distributed in more than 100 countries.
Born in 1937, Dominguez studied Industrial Engineering in Barcelona. He is passionate about his work and tennis, a sport he loves so much he has a court on the roof of the company’s offices to play on from time to time.
3. Santiago Domecq Bohorquez (€425 million)
With €425 million, Santiago Domecq is the third richest Andalucian, according to Forbes magazine.
The publication attributes to the livestock farmer from Jerez the control of several companies, all linked to agriculture and food sector.
4. Juan, Javier and Ivan Lopez-Belmonte Encina (€300 million each)
These three brothers are shareholders in the Rovi laboratory. Just this year, this firm has been in the spotlight because of its partnership with the Moderna laboratory for the production of the coronavirus vaccine.
But before that, Rovi was already a profitable company. So much so that each of the brothers, estimates Forbes, has a fortune of about €300 million, which adds up to €900 million between the three of them.
5. Silvia Mora-Figueroa Domecq (€250 million)
With a fortune of €250 million linked to agriculture and livestock farming, as well as being a shareholder of Coca-Cola European Partners, Silvia Mora-Figueroa is now the fifth richest person in Andalucia according to Forbes.
