Rubens Ometto Silveira Mello is a Brazilian businessman who has a net worth of $2 billion. The world’s first ethanol billionaire aka “the tractor,” Rubens is the chairman of energy company Raizen and conglomerate Cosan. A graduate of the University of São Paulo, he did his internship at Unibanco, after which he became the youngest financial director of the Votorantim Group.
Having fought in court for 10 years to win a full-ownership of his company, Cosan, he is the one to have turned the company into one of the world’s largest producer of bioethanol, sugar, energy and foods. In 2007, he established Cosan Limited, a company with a dual share structure that gives some of his shares ten times the voting weight of ordinary shares, all to strengthen his control over the company. Cosan, which was publicly listed in 2005, now operates in Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia and United Kingdom. In addition to the above, he also serves as the director of UNICA, a lobbying organization of producers of sugarcane and ethanol fuel.
| Net Worth: | $2 Billion |
| Date of Birth: | 1950 |
| Gender: | Male |