James Wellwood ‘Whitey’ Basson (born 1946) is a South African businessman and billionaire (in South African rand terms) who was largely responsible for growing a small business called Shoprite from an 8-store chain valued at R1 million into an international retail conglomerate with revenue in 2019 of R150 billion, market capitalisation of R114 billion, more than 2 300 stores and 140 000 employees across 15 African countries.