Drive Electric founder’s family named in NBR rich list

Drive Electric founder Hideaki Fukutake is mentioned in the NBR’s latest rich list top ten.

The listing is more to do with his father Soichiro, reported to be worth about $1.4 billion and who is ranked as one of Japan’s richest people with an estimated US$1.15 billion in wealth.

Soichiro has lived in New Zealand with his family semi-permanently since 2009.

The 71-year-old is a patron of the arts, and his wealth comes mainly from education provider Benesse Holdings which owns language schools, correspondence courses and hundreds of nursing homes in Japan.

He is represented on its board by Hideaki, 40, who is also the major shareholder in the family’s New Zealand investment company EFU Investment Ltd.

Hideaki founded Drive Electric in 2012 to promote the electric vehicle industry.