The Most Famous

BUSINESSPEOPLE from Azerbaijan

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This page contains a list of the greatest Azerbaijani Businesspeople. The pantheon dataset contains 847 Businesspeople, 2 of which were born in Azerbaijan. This makes Azerbaijan the birth place of the 39th most number of Businesspeople behind Uzbekistan, and Rwanda.

Top 5

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Azerbaijani Businesspeople of all time. This list of famous Azerbaijani Businesspeople is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

Photo of Vagit Alekperov

1. Vagit Alekperov (b. 1950)

With an HPI of 56.21, Vagit Alekperov is the most famous Azerbaijani Businessperson.  His biography has been translated into 29 different languages on wikipedia.

Vagit Yusufovich Alekperov (Azerbaijani: Vahid Yusifoviç Ələkbərov, Russian: Вагит Юсуфович Алекперов; born 1 September 1950) is an Azerbaijani oligarch. He was the President of the oil company Lukoil from 1993 until 2022. As of September 2024, according to Forbes billionaires list by Forbes magazine, Alekperov has an estimated net worth of US$27.6 billion, making him the 3rd wealthiest person in Russia and the fifty-ninth in the world. Alekperov previously owned a 36.8% stake in football club Spartak Moscow. Fellow former Spartak owner Leonid Fedun is Alekperov's close associate. Alekperov also owned superyacht builder Heesen Yachts until 2022. As part of the international governmental responses to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand have imposed sanctions against Alekperov.

Photo of Zeynalabdin Taghiyev

2. Zeynalabdin Taghiyev (1838 - 1924)

With an HPI of 56.17, Zeynalabdin Taghiyev is the 2nd most famous Azerbaijani Businessperson.  His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Hajji Mirza Zeynalabdin Taghi oghlu Taghiyev (Azerbaijani: Mirzə Zeynalabdin Tağı oğlu Tağıyev; Russian: Тагиев, Гаджи Зейналабдин) (b. 25 January 1821, 1823, or 1838, d. 1 September 1924) was an Azerbaijani national industrial magnate and philanthropist.

Photo of Boris Hagelin

3. Boris Hagelin (1892 - 1983)

With an HPI of 47.26, Boris Hagelin is the 3rd most famous Azerbaijani Businessperson.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Boris Caesar Wilhelm Hagelin (2 July 1892 – 7 September 1983) was a Swedish businessman and inventor of encryption machines.

Photo of Isabel dos Santos

4. Isabel dos Santos (b. 1973)

With an HPI of 44.92, Isabel dos Santos is the 4th most famous Azerbaijani Businessperson.  Her biography has been translated into 26 different languages.

Isabel Kukanova dos Santos ([izɐˈβɛl duʃ ˈsɐ̃tuʃ]; born 20 April 1973) is an Angolan businesswoman, the eldest child of Angola's former President José Eduardo dos Santos, who ruled the country from 1979 to 2017. As early as 2013 Forbes described how dos Santos acquired her wealth by taking stakes in companies doing business in Angola, suggesting that her wealth came almost entirely from her family's power and connections. Since 2018, the Angolan government has been trying to prosecute Isabel dos Santos for corruption that may have led to Angola's ongoing recession. On 30 December 2019, the Luanda Provincial Court ordered the freezing of dos Santos's Angolan bank accounts and the seizure of her stake in local companies, including Unitel (Angola) and Banco de Fomento Angola. Two weeks later, the Angolan Government announced it had prepared the legal battle to confiscate dos Santos's assets in Portugal, a process that is operative in the form of letters rogatory sent to Portugal to stop the transfer of funds from Portuguese Commercial Bank to a Russian bank. As of January 2020, she was under investigation in Portugal and has since taken on the United Arab Emirates as her official country of residence. In December 2021, the US State Department barred Dos Santos and her immediate family from entering the United States, citing "significant corruption by misappropriating public funds for her personal benefit". Once considered Africa's richest woman according to Forbes magazine, with a net worth exceeding US$2 billion, she was dropped from the magazine's list in January 2021 after the freezing of her assets in Angola, Portugal and the Netherlands. In 2021 a French court ruled that she was liable to pay $340 million to the Portuguese company PT Ventures. On 18 November 2022, Interpol issued a warrant for her arrest. In December 2023 her assets were frozen following a hearing at the High Court in London.

Photo of Igor Ashurbeyli

5. Igor Ashurbeyli (b. 1963)

With an HPI of 40.64, Igor Ashurbeyli is the 5th most famous Azerbaijani Businessperson.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Igor Raufovich Ashurbeyli (Azerbaijani: İqor Rauf oğlu Aşurbəyli;, Russian: Игорь Рауфович Ашурбейли; born 9 September 1963) is an Azerbaijani-Russian scientist, businessman and a Head of the micronation Asgardia, the Space Nation. He is also the leader of the Party of Russia's Rebirth since 2016. He was the CEO of Scientific Production Association (SPA) Almaz from 2000 to 2011. He is also the founder and chairman of the board of Socium Holding. He has a Doctorate of Science in engineering and a PhD in engineering, with a specialization in computer science.

People

Pantheon has 5 people classified as Azerbaijani businesspeople born between 1838 and 1973. Of these 5, 3 (60.00%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Azerbaijani businesspeople include Vagit Alekperov, Isabel dos Santos, and Igor Ashurbeyli. The most famous deceased Azerbaijani businesspeople include Zeynalabdin Taghiyev, and Boris Hagelin. As of April 2024, 3 new Azerbaijani businesspeople have been added to Pantheon including Zeynalabdin Taghiyev, Boris Hagelin, and Igor Ashurbeyli.

Living Azerbaijani Businesspeople

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Deceased Azerbaijani Businesspeople

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Newly Added Azerbaijani Businesspeople (2024)

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