Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos on Thursday appointed his daughter as new boss of the state oil firm, Sonangol.
According to the presidential decree, the move was part of efforts by the government to turn around the struggling company after low crude prices hit revenue.
The 43-year-old Isabel dos Santos, named by Forbes magazine as Africa’s richest woman, worth an estimated $3.3bn, takes on the job after the entire board was sacked by her father in April.
The mother of three holds a quarter of the shares in Angola’s mobile phone company Unitel and a significant stake of Angola’s Banco BIC.
She also controls 19 percent of Portugal’s fourth-biggest bank BPI
Critics say she amassed her vast fortunes thanks to the backing of her father who has ruled Angola for 35 years.
Jose Eduardo dos Santos, 73, has already appointed one of his sons to head the state sovereign wealth fund and his family is now taking control of an industry that accounts for about two-thirds of state revenue at a time oil price has fallen.
Angola, a member of OPEC, is currently Africa’s largest oil producer because of militant attacks and other problems that have cut output in Nigeria.