Cecil John Rhodes was an English mining magnate and politician in southern Africa who served as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony from 1890 to 1896. He and his British South Africa Company founded the southern African territory of Rhodesia, which the company named after him in 1895. He also devoted much effort to realising his vision of a Cape to Cairo Railway through British territory. Rhodes set up the Rhodes Scholarship, which is funded by his estate.

Rothschild & Co is a multinational private and merchant bank, headquartered in Paris, France and London, England. It is the flagship of the Rothschild banking group controlled by the British and French branches of the Rothschild family.