Africa’s richest individuals have entered a new era of wealth creation, with the continent’s top 20 billionaires posting a historic milestone in 2025.
Accordign to gulfnews.com, for the first time, their combined net worth has soared beyond the $100 billion mark, signalling renewed economic momentum and major gains across key sectors.
The continent now counts 22 billionaires, worth a combined $105 billion. This is up sharply from $82.4 billion and 20 billionaires a year earlier — growth that broadly mirrors the 22% rise in global equity markets over the same period.
Aliko Dangote of Nigeria leads the ranking for the 14th consecutive year, with a fortune of $23.4 billion, nearly double last year’s estimate.
The surge reflects the newly recognised value of his Lagos-area oil refinery, which began limited operations in early 2024 and is expected to reach full capacity in 2025.
The long-delayed facility marks a turning point for Nigeria, enabling exports of refined petroleum.
Dangote, 67, says the project is key to “ensuring that Africa has the capacity to refine its own crude oil.”
South African luxury-goods magnate Johann Rupert remains the continent’s second-richest with $15.1 billion, a 40%+ rise.
Other notable gainers include Nigerian power investor Femi Otedola (now at $1.4 billion) and returning billionaires Anas Sefrioui of Morocco and Jannie Mouton of South Africa, both buoyed by strong share price rebounds.
Not all fortunes rose: Zimbabwe’s Strive Masiyiwa saw his wealth fall about 33% amid the country’s switch to the gold-backed ZiG currency.
South Africa leads with seven billionaires, followed by Nigeria and Egypt with four each.
Morocco has three, while Algeria, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe each have one.
The Forbes ranking includes only African-based billionaires; net worths were calculated using market data as of March 7, 2025.
Here are the top 20 richest people in Africa, based on Forbes data:
