Nathan Kirsh Returns to Africa’s Second Richest After $29 Billion Deal

At 94 years old, Nathan “Natie” Kirsh has accomplished something that very few people manage even once in a lifetime, let alone twice. 

The South African-born billionaire has re-entered Africa’s top wealth rankings in dramatic fashion, not through a paper gain or a rising stock price, but through one of the largest food industry transactions in American history. 

When Sysco Corporation announced on March 30, 2026, that it had agreed to acquire Jetro Restaurant Depot for $29.1 billion, it did more than reshape the American food distribution landscape. It revealed a fortune that had been quietly growing for four decades, almost entirely out of public view.

The deal catapulted Kirsh’s net worth from an estimated $6.8 billion to $17.1 billion overnight, according to Forbes, making him Africa’s second richest person behind only Aliko Dangote, and the world’s 159th wealthiest individual. 

For a man who had been forced out of South Africa in 1986 after a leveraged real estate collapse erased most of what he had built, the reversal is extraordinary by any measure.

Who is Nathan Kirsh? The Man Behind the Fortune

Nathan Kirsh was born on January 6, 1932, in Potchefstroom, a small city about 90 minutes outside Johannesburg, to Jewish parents who had emigrated from Lithuania. 

His childhood, by his own description, was comfortable and largely free of the antisemitism that shaped Jewish experiences elsewhere during that era. After matriculating from Potchefstroom Boys High School in 1949, he went on to earn a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of the Witwatersrand in 1952.

His entrepreneurial instincts surfaced early. In 1958, after inheriting roughly 1,200 pounds from his father, the 26-year-old Kirsh traveled to what was then Swaziland (now Eswatini) and started a corn milling and malt business. 

The timing coincided with British colonial authorities granting him exclusive control over the corn market in the territory. It was an unusual arrangement, but Kirsh leveraged it effectively, building close ties with the Swazi monarchy and serving as chairman of the country’s electricity board for 23 years. Eswatini, he has said, became like a “fourth child” to him.

He returned to South Africa in 1968 and, two years later, acquired Moshal Gevisser, a wholesale food distributor that operated a cash-and-carry model. The decision turned out to be more consequential than it initially appeared. 

Under apartheid, white business owners were legally prohibited from operating in black townships. Kirsh found a way around this restriction by supplying goods to black shopkeepers who could access the surging informal township economy.

The model was profitable, deeply embedded in its market, and difficult for competitors to replicate.

Moshal Gevisser merged with Metro Cash and Carry and grew into a dominant food retail force in South Africa. Kirsh listed his holding vehicle, Kimet, on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in 1978 and became widely known as a dealmaker. But the next chapter of his South African story would prove ruinous.

The Fall and the Reinvention: Brooklyn to Billionaire

In 1984, Kirsh sold approximately half of Kirsh Industries to Sanlam, one of South Africa’s largest financial institutions. 

What followed was a leveraged real estate expansion that collapsed under the weight of South Africa’s mid-1980s economic crisis, capital flight, and currency pressure. By 1986, Kirsh had lost most of what he had built and left South Africa permanently. He was 54 years old.

What happened next is the core of his legend. Kirsh had founded Jetro Cash and Carry in Brooklyn, New York, in June 1976, a single warehouse store selling wholesale food and restaurant supplies to independent operators. 

When he left South Africa, that Brooklyn store was the foundation on which he would rebuild. He acquired Restaurant Depot in 1994, merging it with Jetro under Jetro Holdings to create a dual-brand wholesale food empire targeting independent restaurant operators who had historically been underserved by major distributors.

The model was deliberately simple and almost obsessively private. Kirsh kept Jetro out of the public markets, funded growth through retained earnings, and refused to chase headline-grabbing acquisitions. He once described the business in a line that has become something of a motto: “We are private, we are profitable and we have fun. We just don’t scream about what we do.”

In 2003, Warren Buffett agreed in principle to acquire a minority stake in Jetro Holdings. The two men could not agree on terms. 

Buffett walked away. Kirsh did not chase him. In 2004, Kirsh sold 27% of the company to private equity firms CCMP Capital Advisors and Leonard Green and Partners, then later bought back roughly half of that stake using a $1.4 billion loan. A 2019 investment of $750 million by Mexican conglomerate FEMSA further diluted his stake, but he retained majority control throughout.

By 2025, Jetro Holdings operated 166 warehouse stores across 35 American states, generated $16 billion in revenue, reported $2.1 billion in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation, and had delivered 30 consecutive years of EBITDA growth, including through the 2008 global financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Africa’s Wealth Landscape: How Kirsh Reshuffled the Rankings

Before March 2026, most of Africa’s wealth conversation centred on three names: Aliko Dangote, Johann Rupert, and Abdulsamad Rabiu. Kirsh’s emergence reshuffled those rankings in a single announcement.

Rank	Name	Country of Origin	Estimated Net Worth	Primary Wealth Source
1	Aliko Dangote	Nigeria	$28.5 billion (Forbes)	Dangote Group (cement, refining)
2	Nathan Kirsh	South Africa / Eswatini	$17.1 billion (Forbes)	Jetro Restaurant Depot (sale)
3	Abdulsamad Rabiu	Nigeria	$14.6 billion (Bloomberg)	BUA Group (cement, sugar, flour)
4	Johann Rupert	South Africa	$11.2 – $16.3 billion (varies by index)	Richemont (Cartier, Montblanc)
5	Nicky Oppenheimer	South Africa	Approximately $8-10 billion	Diamonds, investments

What distinguishes Kirsh’s wealth event from his peers is the nature of the gain. Dangote, Rabiu, and Rupert hold paper wealth tied to equity in publicly traded companies. 

Their fortunes fluctuate with share prices and currency movements. Kirsh’s $10 billion uplift is a liquidity event backed by a signed acquisition agreement. Once regulatory clearance is granted, the cash and shares are real and transferable.

The contrast also extends to how each fortune was built. Rupert inherited a foundation from his father Anton Rupert and expanded it through Richemont. 

Dangote built from scratch but operated within the Nigerian regulatory environment that granted him cement and commodity concessions. Kirsh built his American empire entirely as a private company, in a foreign country, without government concessions, without going public, and after losing his first fortune in middle age.

d has backed bakeries, restaurants, fashion houses, and food trucks. His daughter, Linda Mirels, serves on the board of the Jewish People Policy Institute, one of his supported think 

Frequently Asked Questions About Nathan Kirsh and the $29 Billion Deal

Who is Nathan Kirsh?

Nathan “Natie” Kirsh is a 94-year-old South African-born billionaire businessman and philanthropist. He founded the Kirsh Group, a global conglomerate with investments in food wholesale, real estate, and retail across the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Eswatini, and Israel. He is best known as the majority owner and founder of Jetro Restaurant Depot, the American food wholesale empire that was sold to Sysco in 2026 for $29.1 billion.

How did Nathan Kirsh make his money?

Kirsh built his fortune through a series of food wholesale and distribution businesses starting in Eswatini in the 1950s, expanding through South Africa in the 1960s and 1970s, and then rebuilding in the United States after leaving South Africa in 1986. His American company, Jetro Restaurant Depot, grew from a single warehouse store in Brooklyn into a 166-store operation generating $16 billion in annual revenue by the time of its sale to Sysco.

How much is Nathan Kirsh worth after the Sysco deal?

Following Sysco’s announcement of its acquisition of Jetro Restaurant Depot in March 2026, Forbes estimated Nathan Kirsh’s net worth at approximately $17.1 billion, up from $6.8 billion previously. Other estimates, including from Bloomberg, place his wealth at $17.6 billion as of April 2026. Both figures apply a discount reflecting that the deal had not yet closed at the time of estimation.

Is Nathan Kirsh the richest person in Africa?

No. Following the Sysco deal announcement, Kirsh became Africa’s second richest person, behind Nigerian industrialist Aliko Dangote, whose fortune stands at approximately $28.5 billion on the Forbes list. Kirsh surpassed both Abdulsamad Rabiu and Johann Rupert to take the second position.

What is Jetro Restaurant Depot?

Jetro Restaurant Depot is an American wholesale food and restaurant supply business founded by Nathan Kirsh in Brooklyn, New York, in 1976. Operating under two brands, Jetro Cash and Carry and Restaurant Depot, the company serves more than 725,000 independent restaurant operators and food service businesses across 166 warehouse locations in 35 US states. It reported $16 billion in revenue and $2.1 billion in EBITDA for 2025, representing 30 consecutive years of EBITDA growth.