Billionaire LeBron James makes first Africa visit in Angola

LeBron James arrived in Luanda on Friday, Sept. 11, on his first visit to Africa, and spent his first morning in a closed meeting with Angolan business owners.

The trip came at the invitation of Angola’s tourism ministry, and the minister, Márcio Daniel, hosted the private executive breakfast. James races on Sunday in the Angolan round of the E1 World Championship, the electric powerboat series founded by Alejandro Agag, who also created Formula E and Extreme E.

The guest list was the point of the morning.

Agostinho Kapaia of Grupo OPAIA attended, along with Nelson Carrinho of Grupo Carrinho, the agro-industrial group that is among the largest private employers in Angola, and Diogo Caldas of the beverage producer Refriango. Rui Oliveira came from BFA Gestão de Activos, the asset management arm of Banco de Fomento Angola, and Isabel Espírito Santo from Banco Millennium Atlântico. Mário Mota Lemos, chief executive of the state insurer ENSA, was there, as were Alexandre de Matos of Shining Star, Andreia Machado of Grupo Cosal and Tiago Madaleno of Projecto Lundo.

Agag attended for the championship.

James owns a team in the series. AlUla, named for the Saudi heritage site, is associated with him and races with the drivers Nerea Martí and Rusty Wyatt. The ten-team grid is built almost entirely on celebrity ownership, and several of the owners have African connections of their own.

Didier Drogba fields Drogba Global Africa. Will Smith backs Westbrook Racing by Visit Angola, which races under Angolan tourism branding with Sara Price and Lucas Ordóñez driving. Tom Brady, Rafael Nadal, Steve Aoki and the Indian cricketer Virat Kohli all have teams on the grid, alongside a Monaco entry.

Three Angolan companies are among the main sponsors of the round. OPAIA, Grupo Carrinho and Refriango have all put money behind it, which is why their principals were in the room.

What Angola is buying is visibility. The country has spent years trying to build a tourism industry and reduce its dependence on oil, which still supplies the overwhelming majority of export earnings, and it has struggled to attract attention that is not about crude or corruption. A boat race with James, Smith, Brady and Nadal attached generates a different kind of coverage.

James separately visited sites connected to Angola’s history in the transatlantic slave trade during the trip. Luanda was one of the largest departure points on the African coast, and millions of enslaved people were shipped from Angolan ports to Brazil and the Caribbean over three centuries.

Forbes declared James a billionaire in 2022, the first active NBA player to reach that level, on earnings from his playing contracts, endorsements with Nike and others, and holdings including a stake in Fenway Sports Group, the owner of Liverpool and the Boston Red Sox.