Africa is renowned for being among the world’s hardest places to start and maintain a billion-dollar business. While businesses struggle with economic difficulties, limited infrastructure, and shifting exchange rates, international investors continue to be wary of the country’s stock exchanges.
Though they are still below their all-time highs, the wealthiest people in Africa have seen a tiny improvement in their fortunes over the last 12 months, reversing a slide that began a year ago.
This elite club, composed of visionaries and businesspeople, successfully navigates a variety of industries to accumulate substantial riches. These ten African billionaires have accumulated wealth in a variety of sectors, including cement, telecommunications, luxury products, diamonds, and more. Their success stories demonstrate the dynamic and ever-changing character of Africa’s commercial environment in addition to their individual victories.
With a sizable population living below the poverty line, Africa is one of the world’s poorest continents. Africa is a complex economic region due to its unequal distribution of income. Africa has great growth potential, but for a long time, the area has struggled with possible challenges including food scarcity and climate change.
List Of Top 10 Richest Men In Africa
1. Aliko Dangote -$13.5 Billion
The richest man in Africa for 13 years, Aliko Dangote, founded and is now the head of Dangote Cement, the biggest cement producer in the region. He owns an 85% share in the publicly traded Dangote Cement through a holding company. Ten African nations are home to Dangote Cement’s 48.6 million metric tonne yearly production capacity. After years of construction, Dangote’s fertilizer facility in Nigeria opened for business in March 2022. In addition, the Dangote Refinery’s construction has finished.
2. Johan Rupert -$ 11.7 Billion
Compagnie Financiere Richemont, a well-known Swiss luxury goods corporation known for names like Cartier and Montblanc, is a lifestyle brand owned by Johann Rupert. Richemont was created in 1998 as a spinoff of properties formerly owned by Rembrandt Group Limited, which his father Anton had established in the 1940s. In addition to being chairman of Remgro, a diversified investment company, Rupert owns 7% of the company. In addition, he owns 27 percent of the Luxembourg-based investment holding company Reinet.
3. Nicky Oppenheimer -$9.5 Billion
In 2012, the 78-year old Nicky Oppenheimer, who inherited the De Beers diamond legacy, made headlines when he sold Anglo American, a mining corporation, his 40% ownership in the company for an astounding $5.1 billion in cash. Oppenheimer, the company’s third generational leader, oversaw the 2001 sale to private equity. Up until 2012, the Oppenheimer family had a tremendous amount of power in the world diamond market, a remarkable 85 years. Beyond the realm of diamonds, Oppenheimer entered the aviation industry in 2014, establishing Fireblade Aviation in Johannesburg with a focus on chartered flights.
4. Nassef Sawiris -$9.2 Billion
The richest man in Egypt, Nassef Sawiris, gained notoriety in December 2020 when he purchased a noteworthy 5% share in Madison Square Garden Sports, a New York-listed company that owns the NHL Rangers and the NBA Knicks. Leading manufacturer of nitrogen fertilizers, Sawiris operates plants in Texas and Iowa and is traded on the Euronext Amsterdam exchange. He also oversees Orascom Construction, an engineering and construction company that is listed on the Nasdaq Dubai and Cairo exchanges. Interestingly, he has a sizeable nearly 6% stake in the well-known German sportswear company Adidas in his portfolio. Sawiris created even more ripples in the sports world when he joined forces with Wes Edens of Fortress Investment Group to purchase Aston Villa Football Club, a Premier League team.
5. Nathan Kirsh -$7 Billion
The main source of Nathan “Natie” Kirsh’s riches is his ownership position in Jetro Holdings, a U.S.-based company that includes well-known restaurant supply stores including Restaurant Depot and Jetro Cash & Carry. With a dominant 70% stake in the company, Kirsh manages its operations, which center on providing wholesale items to a range of businesses nationwide, such as restaurants, bodegas, and small shops. Kirsh’s commercial adventure begins in Swaziland, where he first established a grain milling firm in 1958, laying the groundwork for his eventual success. Building on this early success, he entered the South African apartheid-era wholesale food distribution market.
6. Mike Adenuga -$6.7 Billion
Mike Adenuga is a renowned businessman from Nigeria who operates in the oil and telecommunications industries. Notably, the largest mobile phone network in the nation is comprised of Globacom, his brainchild. His company, Conoil Producing, manages six oil blocks in the Niger Delta and makes a substantial contribution to the country’s energy industry. In order to improve connectivity and digital infrastructure in the region, Globacom led the creation of Glo-1, a massive 6,100-mile-long submarine Internet cable that connects Nigeria to the United Kingdom via Ghana and Portugal. Adenuga’s power in Nigeria’s energy sector is further cemented by his 74% ownership position in the publicly traded gasoline company Conoil.
7. Abdul Samad Rabiu -$5.6 Billion
The chairman of the BUA Group, a well-known Nigerian conglomerate known for its operations in real estate, cement manufacturing, and sugar refining, is Abdulsamad Rabiu. The group has been making significant advancements in the corporate world. Early in January 2020, Rabiu made a big move when he coordinated the combination of his privately held Obu Cement company and the publicly traded Cement Co. of Northern Nigeria, in which he had a majority stake. As a result, BUA Cement Plc was established, and it currently trades on the Nigerian stock exchange as a formidable company with a significant 98.2% ownership interest. In addition, Rabiu is the 95% owner of the well-known publicly traded food giant BUA Foods.
8. Naguib Sawiris -$3.8 Billion
Naguib Sawiris hails from one of the wealthiest families in Egypt. Notably, in 2011 he arranged a profitable multibillion-dollar sale of Orascom Telecom to the Russian telecom behemoth VimpelCom (now Veon). As the chairman of Orascom TMT Investments at the moment, Sawiris is in charge of the company’s wide-ranging holdings, which include investments in companies like Italiaonline, a well-known Italian internet company, and an asset manager in Egypt. Sawiris has expanded his interests outside of telecom to include the hospitality industry. Especially, he oversaw the construction of Silversands, an opulent resort on the Caribbean island of Grenada.
9. Mohammed Mansour -$3.2 Billion
Mohamed Mansour is the leader of the Mansour Group, which was founded in 1952 by his father Loutfy. When Mansour brought General Motors dealerships to Egypt in 1975 and went on to become one of GM’s principal distributors worldwide, his influence grew dramatically. Furthermore, Caterpillar equipment distribution rights are exclusively held by Mansour Group in Egypt and seven other African countries. In addition to his commercial pursuits, Mansour has been involved in Egyptian politics. He held the position of transportation minister under President Hosni Mubarak’s administration from 2006 to 2009.
10. Koos Bekker -$2.7 Billion
The South African entrepreneur Koos Bekker led the publisher Naspers in 2001 when it paid an estimated $34 million to acquire a substantial portion of the Chinese Internet behemoth Tencent Holdings. This purchase is recognized as one of the most profitable venture decisions in history. By 2019, Naspers has reorganized its holdings, distributing assets to the publicly listed entertainment company MultiChoice Group and Prosus, which holds the significant Tencent interest. Bekker left Naspers as CEO in March 2014, but he came back in April 2015 as chairman.