Rafaela Aponte-Diamant Explained

Rafaela Aponte-Diamant
Birth Name:	Rafaela Diamant
Birth Date:	26 March 1945
Birth Place:	Haifa, Israel
Citizenship:	Italian
Occupation:	Founder, Mediterranean Shipping Company
Spouse:	Gianluigi Aponte
Children:	2

Rafaela Aponte-Diamant is an Italian billionaire and a major shareholder of the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) Group, along with her husband, Gianluigi Aponte.^[1]

In 2024, Forbes estimated Aponte-Diamant's net worth at $33.1 billion, ranking her as the 48th-richest person in the world.^[2]

Early life

Aponte-Diamant was born in Haifa, Mandatory Palestine. As a child, she and her parents then immigrated to Switzerland, where her father worked as an executive banker in Geneva, Switzerland.^[3]

Personal life

Aponte-Diamant is married to Gianluigi Aponte, an Italian businessman. They met when she was a passenger on a boat of which he was the captain.^{[4] [5]} They have two children, Diego Aponte, who is group president of MSC and was the company's CEO from 2014 until November 2019, and Alexa Aponte Vago, who is CFO of MSC.^[6]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Gandhi . Jamila . Meet Rafaela Aponte-Diamant, The World's Richest Self-Made Woman . Forbes ME . 14 July 2023 . 8 April 2024.
2. Web site: Rafaela Aponte-Diamant . . 26 November 2024.
3. Web site: 15 September 2023 . Top 10 Richest Women in the World - All Top Everything . 24 October 2023 . en-US.
4. Web site: Gianluigi Aponte e la MSC Crociere - Grandi personaggi - Impresa Oggi . 14 March 2019 . www.impresaoggi.com.
5. Web site: Bloomberg Billionaires Index: Gianluigi Aponte . 14 March 2019 . Bloomberg. 2 May 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190502131323/https://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/profiles/gianluigi-aponte/. live.
6. Web site: Gianluigi & Rafaela Aponte . 22 March 2019 . Forbes . en. 11 November 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201111193140/https://www.forbes.com/profile/gianluigi-rafaela-aponte/. dead.