Despite the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on commercial activity, Africa’s billionaires saw their wealth expand dramatically in 2021. According to Forbes, at the end of 2021, 18 of these people had a combined net worth of $84.9 billion, up 15% from their combined net worth in 2020.
Soaring stock prices, as well as increased demand for products and services in 2021, are credited with increasing the wealth of these tycoons. Following a 30% gain in the stock price of Dangote Cement, Aliko Dangote’s net worth increased to $13.9 billion, up from $12.1 billion in 2020.
Despite the fact that these tycoons’ fortunes are growing, the worrying trend is that all of Africa’s billionaires are men, with no women appearing on the most recent list. Isabel Dos Santos of Angola was the most recent billionaire woman to be included, but she dropped from the Forbes’ list in January 2021. This is the list of top richest people in Africa.
1. Aliko Dangote is the first.
With a net worth of $13.9 billion, Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote is Africa’s richest man for the eleventh year in a row. The 64-year-old owns 85 percent of Africa’s largest cement company, Dangote Cement Plc, which is publicly traded.
Dangote’s fortunes are poised to rise as the company recently completed a fertilizer facility in Nigeria, which began operating in 2021. He’s also building an oil refinery plant that, when finished, will be one of the world’s largest refineries.
2. Johann Rupert and his Family
With a net worth of $11 billion, Johann Rupert is South Africa’s richest man and continent’s second richest individual. He is the chairman of Richemont, a Swiss luxury goods company. The 71-year-old billionaire’s fortune climbed by $2.8 billion in 2021, thanks to a 60% increase in shares in his luxury goods company.
Rupert lives in Capetown, South Africa, with his family and owns 7% of Remgro, a diversified investment firm, and 25% of Reinet, a Luxembourg-based investment holding company.
3. Nicky Oppenheimer and Family
Nicky Oppenheimer, the heir to the DeBeers diamond company, has an estimated net worth of $8.7 billion, making him Africa’s third richest man and South Africa’s second richest person. He diversified his holdings by selling DeBeers to Anglo-American in 2011.
Through London-based Stockdale Street and Johannesburg-based Tana Africa Capital, he has invested the majority of his fortune in private equity projects in Africa, Asia, the United States, and Europe.
He currently resides in Johannesburg, South Africa, and in 2014, he founded Fireblade Aviation, a charter aviation company in Johannesburg. In South Africa, Botswana, and Zimbabwe, the 76-year-old billionaire owns at least 720 square miles of protected property.
4. Nassef Sawiris,
Nassef Sawiris is Egypt’s richest man and heir to Egypt’s wealthiest family. With an estimated net worth of $8.6 billion, he is Africa’s fourth richest man. The majority of his wealth comes from his shares in OCI NV, a Dutch nitrogen fertilizer company, and his 6% stake in Adidas, a German apparel company.
The 61-year-old billionaire purchased a 5% share in Madison Square Garden Sports, the owner of the NBA Nicks and NHL Rangers franchises, in December 2020.
Orascom Construction, an engineering and construction corporation that trades on the Cairo exchange and Nasdaq Dubai, is also owned by the Egyptian billionaire. His fortune also stems from his investments in Lafarge Holcim, the world’s largest cement company.
5. Abdulsamad Rabiu,
Abdul Samad Rabiu, the founder of BUA Group, one of Africa’s fastest-growing industrial conglomerates. Rabiu is Africa’s fifth-richest man and Nigeria’s second-richest person, with a net worth of $7 billion.
The majority of the 61-year-old billionaire’s fortune comes from his cement company, BUA Cement Plc, which he owns 98.5 percent of. The recent listing of his combined food business, BUA Foods, boosted his net worth to $7 billion from $5.5 billion.
6. Mike Adenuga
Mike Adenuga is the founder of Nigeria’s Globacom Limited and the principal owner of Conoil Plc, the country’s first petroleum marketer. He is Nigeria’s third wealthiest man and Africa’s sixth richest man. Adenuga’s net worth is $6.7 billion, according to Forbes’ 2022 list.
The 68-year-old entrepreneur made his fortune in the telecommunications and oil industries. Globacom, his mobile phone network provider, is Nigeria’s third-largest operator, with 55 million subscribers. His oil exploration company, Conoil, operates six blocks in the Niger Delta.
Adenuga earned an MBA from Pace University in New York while working as a cab driver to support himself as a student. At the age of 26, he made his first million by selling lace.
7. Issad Rebrab and Family
Cevital, Algeria’s largest privately held firm, was founded by Issad Rebrab. With a net-worth of $5.1 billion acquired from his food and beverage businesses, he is Algeria’s richest man and Africa’s seventh richest man.
Cevital Group owns one of the largest sugar refineries in the world, with the capacity to produce 2 million tons of refined sugar each year. He also owns a number of European businesses, including Groupe Brandt, a French home appliance manufacturer, an Italian steel mill, and a German water purification firm.
8. Naguib Sawiris
Naguib Sawiris is Egypt’s second richest man and Africa’s eighth richest man, with a fortune of $3.4 billion. Nassef Sawiris, Egypt’s richest man, is his older brother. After selling Orascom Telecom to Russian telecom operator Veon in a multibillion-dollar deal in 2011, the 67-year-old Egyptian millionaire amassed his riches.
He is the chairman of Orascom TMT Investments, which owns a share in Italiaonline, an Italian internet startup. Through his Media Globe Holdings, Naguib owns 88 percent of Euronews, a pan-European pay TV and video news network. On the Caribbean island of Grenada, he also built the Silversands luxury resort.
9. Patrice Motsepe
Patrice is the founder of African Rainbow Minerals. In 2008, the 59-year-old was named the first black South African billionaire on Forbes’ list. His present net worth is $3.1 billion, making him South Africa’s third richest person and Africa’s ninth.
In 2016, he founded African Rainbow Capital, a private equity firm focused on investing in Africa. Motsepe is also the president and owner of the Mamelodi Sundowns football club, as well as a shareholder in Sanlam, a publicly traded financial services company. Motsepe was elected president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), the continent’s governing organization, in March 2021.
10. Koos Bekker
With a net worth of $2.7 billion, Koos Bekker is the fourth richest person in South Africa and the tenth richest person on the continent. The 69-year-old South African made his money in the entertainment and media industries. He turned Naspers, a South African newspaper publisher, into a powerhouse in e-commerce and cable television.
In 2001, he led Naspers to pay $34 million for a third of Tencent Holdings, a Chinese Internet company. Naspers made investments in the publicly traded MultiChoice Group and Prosus, which owns a stake in Tencent.
His other holdings include Burundi and Lesotho mobile phone networks, as well as investments in African fintech and power distribution companies. Strive and his wife Tsitsi established the Higherlife Foundation in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Burundi, and Lesotho to help orphaned and disadvantaged children.
