A
new list of Africa's richest billionaires 2017 published by Forbes has
named Nigerian businessman, Aliko Dangote as the richest man in Africa.
When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)
Oil billionaire Folorunsho Alakija
According to Forbes'
newest report of the richest African billionaires in 2017, two
Nigerians have lost their status while three others made it to the list.
Read the full report below:
The number of billionaires in Africa--and the size of their
fortunes--continues to drop. On this year's list, FORBES is only
including African billionaires living in Africa, instead of featuring
Africa's 50 richest people. There are 21 billionaires on this year’s
list, worth a combined $70 billion. On the November 2015 Africa Rich
List, there were 23 African billionaires worth a combined $79.8 billion.
That in turn was down from 28 African billionaires in 2014.
Nigerian cement tycoon Aliko Dangote remains Africa’s richest
person for the sixth year running with a $12.1 billion fortune, despite a
nearly $5 billion drop in his net worth for the second year in a row.
Dangote is joined by just two other Nigerian billionaires on this year’s
list -- telecom tycoon Mike Adenuga, who is Africa’s third richest
person with an estimated $5.8 billion fortune, and oil billionaire
Folorunsho Alakija, who has an estimated net worth of $1.6 billion. Two
Nigerians dropped off the Billionaires List this year--oil marketer Femi
Otedola, whose net worth dropped from $1.6 billion in November 2015 to
just $330 million today, and sugar billionaire Abdulsamad Rabiu, whose
net worth dropped below $1 billion in the wake of a weakened Nigerian
currency.
South Africa retains its dominance on the Africa List. While the
country is tied with Egypt for the largest number of individual
billionaires, South Africa’s six billionaires are worth a combined $22.7
billion -- $7 billion more than Egypt’s six billionaires. The richest
South African billionaire and the continent’s second richest person is
diamond magnate Nicky Oppenheimer, who has maintained a low profile
since selling his family’s stake in diamond giant DeBeers to Anglo
American for $5.1 billion in cash in 2012. Luxury goods tycoon Johann
Rupert and retail magnate Christoffel Wiese are tied as South Africa’s
second richest and Africa’s fourth richest billionaires, each with a
$5.5 billion fortune. Wiese’s fortune has dropped $1 billion since the
November 2015 Africa list, while Rupert’s net worth is down $800
million.
Egypt’s richest billionaire is Nassef Sawiris, whose $5.3 billion
fortune is up $400 million since November 2015. Sawiris runs OCI, one of
the world’s largest nitrogen fertilizers. The country’s next richest
person is his brother Naguib Sawiris, who was Egypt’s biggest gainer on
the list. His net worth increased $700 million to $3.7 billion. In
December 2016, Naguib Sawiris announced that he would be stepping down
as CEO of his telecom company, Orasom Telecom Media & Technology.
FORBES counts only two female billionaires in Africa: Angola's
Isabel dos Santos -Africa’s richest woman with a $3.2 billion fortune,
and Nigeria’s Alakija. Dos Santos is the daughter of Angola’s
president, who appointed her as head of Angola’s state oil firm Sonangol
in June 2016. Alakija is the vice chair of Nigerian oil exploration
company, Famfa Oil.
At 41, Tanzanian Mohammed Dewji is Africa’s youngest billionaire,
well below the average age of 63. He is CEO of conglomerate METL, which
his father founded in the 1970s. Eighty-six-year-old Onsi Sawiris of
Egypt is the continent's oldest billionaire and the father of two other
African billionaires -- Nassef and Naguib Sawiris.
Thirteen out of Africa’s 21 billionaires have self-made fortunes,
while the other eight inherited their fortunes. The 21 billionaires
hail from 7 countries: South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, Morocco (which has 3
billionaires), Algeria ( 1 billionaire), Angola (1 billionaire) and
Tanzania (1 billionaire).
Our list tracks the wealth of African billionaires who reside on
the continent, thus excluding Sudanese-born billionaire Mo Ibrahim, who
is a U.K. citizen, and billionaire London resident Mohamed Al-Fayed, an
Egyptian citizen. This year's list includes only billionaires, rather
than the 50 richest people in Africa. We calculated net worths using
stock prices and currency exchange rates from the close of business on
Thursday, January 5. To value privately-held businesses, we couple
estimates of revenues or profits with prevailing price-to-sales or
price-to-earnings ratios for similar public companies.
We have purposely excluded dispersed family fortunes such as the
Chandaria family of Kenya and the Madhvanis of Uganda, because the
wealth is believed to be held by dozens of family members. We do include
wealth belonging to a member’s immediate relatives if the wealth can be
traced to one living individual; in that case, you’ll see “&
family” on our list as an indication.
When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)
