Once you earn a couple of billion dollars, the world starts noticing you. Africa has 54 nations, but only eight countries possess billionaires.
Among the top 25 richest African, South African 8 billionaires successfully get their place, accompanied by Egypt’s 6 billionaires; Nigerian 4 billionaires; Morocco’s 2 billionaires; and Algeria, Angola, Eswatini (Swaziland), Tanzania, and Zimbabwe – 1 billionaire each.
Only 2 women hold their place on the list of the 25 richest people in Africa — Angola’s richest person, Isabel Dos Santos, and Folorunsho Alakija from Nigeria.
So, here is the list of top 10 Africa’s richest people:
10 Abdulsamad Rabiu
. Net worth: $3.1 billion
. Origin of wealth: Cement, sugar
. Age: 60
. Country: Nigeria
Rabiu is the founder of BUA Group, a Nigerian conglomerate that runs industries of cement, sugar refining, and real estate. At the beginning of January 2020, Rabiu combined his privately-owned Obu Cement company with registered firm Cement Co. of Northern Nigeria, which he managed. The merged firm, called BUA Cement Plc, does business in the Nigerian stock exchange; Rabiu holds 98.5% of it. Rabiu, the son of a businessman, received land from his father, one of Africa’s most famous industrialists. He set up his own business in 1988 importing iron, steel, and chemicals.
9 Mohamed Mansour
. Net worth: $3.3 billion
. Origin of wealth: Diversified
. Age: 72
. Country: Egypt
. Residence: Cairo
. Education: Master of Business Administration from Auburn University
Mansour supervises family multiple business Mansour Group, which is one of the biggest companies in Egypt, established by his father Loutfy (D.1976) in 1952, and 60,000 employees work there. Mansour founded General Motors dealerships in Egypt in 1975, later becoming one of GM’s most important distributors worldwide. Mansour Group also has exclusive merchandising rights for Caterpillar equipment in Egypt and seven other African countries. He served as Egypt’s Minister of Transportation from 2006 to 2009 under the Hosni Mubarak government. His brothers Yasseen and Youssef, who share ownership in the family group, are also billionaires; his son Loutfy supervises private equity arm Man Capital.
8 Aziz Akhannouch Family
. Net worth: $3.5 billion
. Origin of wealth: Petroleum, diversified
. Age: 59
. Country: Morocco
. Residence: Casablanca
. Education: Master of Business Administration from Universite de Sherbrooke
Aziz Akhannouch has the majority of ownership of Akwa Group, a multibillion-dollar conglomerate established by his father and a partner, Ahmed Wakrim, in 1932. It has investments in petroleum, gas, and chemicals through publicly-traded Afriquia Gaz and Maghreb Oxygene. Akhannouch is Minister of Morocco’s Agriculture and Fisheries and the president of a royalist political party.
His wife Salwa Idrissi manages her own business in Morocco, which has franchises for Gap, Gucci, and Ralph Lauren.
7 Naguib Sawiris
. Net worth: $5.34 billion
. Origin of wealth: Telecom
. Age: 65
. Country: Egypt
. Residence: Cairo
. Education: Master of Science from Swiss Federal Polytechnical Institute, and Bachelor of Arts/Science Swiss Federal Polytechnical Institute
Naguib Sawiris is an heir of Egypt’s most prosperous family. His brother Nassef is also a billionaire. He created his luck in telecom, trading Orascom Telecom in 2011 to Russian telecom firm VimpelCom in a multibillion-dollar transaction. He is chairman of Orascom TMT Investments, which possesses stakes in a major asset manager in Egypt and an Italian internet company, among others.
Family possessing La Mancha has stakes in Evolution Mining, Endeavour Mining, and Golden Star Resources, which operate gold mines in Africa and Australia. Sawiris has a majority of the ownership in Euronews. He has also built a lavishing resort called Silversands in Grenada.
Sawiris helped establish The Free Egyptians, a liberal political party, at the onset of Egypt’s uprisings in 2011.
In 2015, he proposed to buy a Greek or Italian island to house Syrian refugees, but Greece and Italy turned him down.
6 Nassef Sawiris
. Net worth: $5.6 billion
. Origin of wealth: Construction, chemicals
. Age: 58
. Country: Egypt
. Residence: Cairo
. Education: University of Chicago
Son of billionaire Onsi Sawiris, Nassef is recognized as being the wealthiest man in Egypt, best acknowledged for holding a 30% stake in the fertilizing producer OCI. According to Bloomberg, he also holds a 6% stake in Adidas.
5 Nicky Oppenheimer
. Net worth: $6.53 billion
. Origin of wealth: Diamonds
. Age: 74
. Country: South Africa
. Residence: Johannesburg
. Education: Master of Arts/Science from Oxford University Christ Church
Oppenheimer, the heir to his family’s wealth, traded his 40% stake in diamond firm DeBeers to mining group Anglo American for $5.1 billion in cash in 2012. He was the third generation of his family to run DeBeers, and took the company private in 2001. For 85 years until 2012, the Oppenheimer family owned a controlling spot in the world’s diamond trade. In 2014, Oppenheimer began Fireblade Aviation in Johannesburg, which works chartered flights with its fleet of three planes and two helicopters. He has at least 720 square miles of storage land across South Africa, Botswana, and Zimbabwe.
4 Johann Rupert & family
. Net worth: $6.64 billion
. Origin of wealth: Luxury goods
. Age: 69
. Country: South Africa
. Residence: Cape Town
Rupert is chairman of Swiss luxury goods company Compagnie Financiere Richemont. The firm is famously recognized for the brands Cartier and Montblanc. It was established in 1998 through a spinoff of assets held by Rembrandt Group Limited (now Remgro Limited), which his father Anton developed in the 1940s. He holds a 7% stake in different investment firm Remgro, which he chairs, as well as 25% of Reinet, an investment holding co. based in Luxembourg. In recent years, Rupert has been a vocal opponent of plans to let fracking in the Karoo, a region of South Africa where he holds the land.
3 Issad Rebrab
. Net worth: $7.5 billion
. Origin of wealth: Food
. Age: 76
. Country: Algeria
. Residence: Algiers
Rebarb is the founder of Cevital, which is the greatest privately owned conglomerate in Algeria. According to Forbes, Cevital possesses many brands, in addition to one of the world’s largest sugar factories. The company also holds a home appliance company, a steel mill company, and a water purification enterprise.
2 Mike Adenuga
. Net worth: $7.7 billion
. Origin of wealth: Telecom, oil
. Age: 67
. Country: Nigeria
. Residence: Lagos
. Education: Master of Business from Pace University,
Adenuga, Nigeria is the second wealthiest man, created his fortune in telecom and oil production. His mobile phone network, Globacom, is the third-largest operator in Nigeria, with 43 million subscribers. His oil exploration outfit, Conoil Producing, operates six oil blocks in the Niger Delta. Adenuga received an MBA at Pace University in New York, helping himself as a student by working as a taxi driver. He earned his first million at age 26 trading lace and distributing soft drinks.
1 Aliko Dangote
. Net worth: $13.5 billion
. Origin of wealth: Cement, sugar
. Age: 63
. Country: Nigeria
. Residence: Lagos
. Education: Bachelor of Arts/Science from Al-Azhar University
Dangote is Africa’s most prosperous man, established and chairs Dangote Cement which is the largest cement producer in the continent. He holds almost 85% of publicly-traded Dangote Cement through a holding company. Dangote Cement produces 45.6 million metric tons every year and has services in 10 countries all over Africa. Dangote also holds stakes in publicly-traded salt, sugar, and flour production companies. Dangote Refinery has been under development for three years and is supposed to be one of the largest oil refineries in the world, once complete.
Dangote told Forbes that when he was in his youth, he bought sweets, sold them to others, and he kept the profits.
These are Africa’s richest people who have worked hard to reach that level. We hope this article will be inspirational for you. If you have any other information you feel free to share with us. We will appreciate your participation.
Source: vizaca.com
