According to Forbes, the list of wealthiest Africans consists of 19 billionaires. Dangote, who is the richest man in Africa, has a net worth of $13.5 billion, followed by Johann Rupert and Family, and Nicky Oppenheimer and Family with a net worth of $10.7 billion and $8.4 billion respectively.
Here’s the list of top 10 wealthiest Africans.
Alike Dangote
The continent’s wealthiest individual for the 12th year in a row, Alike Dangote is the founder and chairman of Africa’s cement manufacturer, Dangote Cement, comes first on the list. According to the index, his net worth is estimated to be $19.4 million but his riches have reduced by $400 million to $13.5 billion.
Johann Rupert
Hailing from South Africa, Johann Rupert is ranked second with a net worth of $10.7 billion. He leads the Switzerland company Richemont having brand portfolios including Cartier, Montblanc, Chloe, Dunhill and Van Cleef & Arpels that increased his wealth by $1.19 billion.
His fortune was reduced from $11 billion last year, as his shares of Compagnie Financiere Richemont, producer of Cartier watcher and Montblanc pens, regained most of all 2022’s loss it had suffered.
Nicky Oppenheimer
Another wealthy South African, Nicky Oppenheimer who is the successor of DeBeers, a diamond mining giant. Oppenheimer saves private equity investments in Africa, Asia, the United Stated and Europe through his LOndon-based Stockdale Street and Johannesburg-based Tana Africa Capital. Until he sold it to Anglo American, a mining firm, a decade ago, is third on the list with an estimated net worth of $8.4 billion.
Abdulsamad Rabiu
Following Oppenheimer is Abdulsamad Rabiu, a business tycoon hailing from Nigeria as well as the creator of the BUA Group, a corporation active in real estate, sugar refining, and cement manufacturing. The fourth-richest businessman in Africa with a current net worth of $8.3billion.
In early 2020, Rabiu combined his privately owned Obu Cement company with the Cement Co. of Northern Nigeria, led by him. The combined firm was given the name BUA Cement Plc, which trades on the stock exchange. Raiu owns 98.2% of the company’s stocks.
Nassef Sawiris
The richest businessman in Egypt Nassef Sawiris is ranked fifth on the list. Sawiris’s most important asset is a 38.8% stake in OCI, the world’s largest nitrogen fertiliser producer. He owns a 7% stake in the $2.5 billion-worth German sportswear giant Adidas. He also holds a stake in Lafarge Holcim, a cement giant and is positioned on the supervisory board of Adidas. Since 2023 began, his wealth has increased by $198 million to $7.34 billion.
Mike Adenga
Nigeria’s second most wealthiest, Mike Adenga, with a net value of $6.1 billion has made his fortune in the field of telecom and oil production. He leads Globacom, a mobile phone network and the third largest operator in the country having 55 million subscribers. He also runs Conoil Producing , an oil exploration outfit, which functions in 6 oil blocks in the Nigeria Delta.
Issad Rebrab and Family
Issad Rebrab is the founder of Cevital and has been its CEO for more than 50 years. He named his son Malik who became CEO in July 2022. Cevital is Algeria’s largest privately-owned company as well as the largest sugar refineries in the world having the capacity to produce 2 million tons a year.
Rebrab has a net worth of $4.6 billion, according to Forbes 2023. In addition, Cevital owns European companies, including French home appliance company Groupe Brandt, an Italian steel mill as well as a German water purification company.
Naguib Sawiris
Naguib Sawiris, brother of Nassef Sawiris, is also a billionaire who built his fortune in telecom after selling Orascom Telecom in 2011 to Russian telecom firm VimpelCom (now Veon) in a multibillion-dollar transaction. His current net value is $3.3 billion.
He is the chairman of Orascom TMT Investments, which holds stakes in an asset manager in Egypt and an Italian internet company Italiaonline and others. Through his Media Globe Holdings, Naguib owns 88% of pan-European pay TV and video news network Euronews.
Patrice Motsepe
Patrice Motsepe, the founder and chairman of African Rainbow Minerals, who became a billionaire in 2008 and the first black African on the Forbes list. Motsepe established his private equity firm called African Rainbow Capital, which is active in investment in Africa. He has a net worth of $2.7 billion.
Mohamed Mansour
Mohamed Mansour is the head of this family-built corporation Mansour Group, which was founded by his father Loutfy in 1952 and currently operates with 60,000 employees. Mansour launched General Motors dealerships in Egypt in 1975 and later became one of GM’s largest distributors. Mansour Group also has exclusive distribution rights for Caterpillar equipment in Egypt as well as in seven other African countries. His current net worth is valued at $3.6 billion.
Africa’s wealthiest folk have suffered a loss of $3.1 billion in the last 12 months after a global recession in markets in 2022, as per a publication.
The 19 billionaires in Africa are worth $81.8 billion, which was previously estimated at $84.9 billion with 18 African billionaires a year earlier. The 3.6% reduction in the Forbes list for 2023 after a 15% increase last year is based on the increasing stock values from Nigeria to Zimbabwe.
Their fortunes experienced a decline in global equities prices, with the S&P All Africa index reduced by over 20% in the first nine months of 2022 before a late-year comeback began leaving the index down only 3% in the previous year.
The Forbes publication reads in part, “This year’s list sees the return of South Africa’s Christoffel Wiese, who lands at No. 18 with $1.1 billion. Wiese, who was worth more than $6 billion after he sold his bargain retailer, Pepkor, to Steinhoff International for $5.7 billion in 2015, lost his billionaire status two years later when an accounting scandal cratered Steinhoff’s stock. He sued, and in March 2022 collected 7 billion South African rands (about $400 million) from Steinhoff in cash and shares totaling about 5% of publicly traded Pepkor.”
