Africa is heavily endowed with wealth, especially in natural and human resource. According to a World Bank report in 2018, some countries in Africa are among the fastest growing economies in the world! There is no doubt that in future there will be more people from Africa competing for the world’s richest person. Currently, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, with a net worth of about $150 billion, which makes him the richest person in the world in modern history, placing Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates at the second position. The list of the top richest people in Africa keep changing over time so this is a most recent list of a few of them.

Some of the richest people in Africa have come from people with private businesses, musicians, footballers and pastors. Africa’s richest musician is Akon from Senegal with an estimated net worth of $80 million whiles the status of the richest pastor in Africa is challenged by David Oyedepo of Nigeria and Shepherd Bushiri of Malawi, both with a net worth of about $150 million.

The richest woman in Africa is according to Forbes is Isabel Dos Santos (networth of about $2.2 billion), the daughter of Angola’s former president, Jose Eduardo dos Santos.

Below is a list of the top 5 richest people in Africa:

• Aliko Dangote

Net worth : $10.3 billion

Age : 61 years

Origin of wealth : Cement, Sugar, Flour

Country: Nigeria

Biography

Aliko Dangote tops the list of the richest people in Africa and is also the 100th richest person in the world. He is a very successful Nigerian business mogul with businesses in Nigeria and other parts of Africa. Dangote started buying sweets and selling them at a profit at the tender age of eight years, and went on to borrow $3,000 from his uncle to start his agricultural business in Nigeria which took off. Aliko Dangote is the great-grandson of Alhaji Alhassan Dantata, who was the richest in Africa during his time till his death in 1955.

Aliko Dangote comes from a wealthy family that was was able to cushion him with some financial help to start his business. He has expanded over the years into other business industries including oil and gas, real estate, telecommunications and steel manufacturing. The Dangote Group acknowledged today as the largest conglomerate in West Africa.

Business

Dangote is the proud owner of the third-largest sugar refinery in the world, with all of his publicly traded companies making up a quarter of the market capitalization of the Nigerian Stock Exchange. His business now covers food processing, cement manufacturing and even freight. The Dangote Group is the leading brand in the manufacture of sugar in the Nigerian market market and a major supplier to the country’s soft drink companies, breweries, and confectioners. The Dangote Group boasts as the largest refinery in Africa and the third largest in the world, producing about 800,000 tonnes of sugar annually.

The Dangote Group has evolved from being a trading company to become the largest industrial group in Nigeria made up of the Dangote Sugar Refinery, Dangote Cement, and Dangote Flour. It has become a multi-trillion-naira conglomerate operating in Nigeria, Ghana, Benin and Togo.

He has spoken about this intentions to purchase Arsenal, a football club based in London, UK. He has vowed to buy the football club one day because of his love for it and has also hinted that he wants a wife after his two previous marriages ended. It is reported that he has 15 children.

Aliko Dangote’s mansion costs more than $30 million, which is justifiable by its detailed luxurious and beautiful look.

 

• Mike Adenuga

Net worth : $9.2 billion

Age : 65 years

Origin of wealth : Telecom, Oil

Country: Nigeria

Background

Michael Adeniyi Agbolade Ishola Adenuga Jr is a Nigerian business man from very humble beginnings being born to a father who was a school teacher and a mother who was a businesswoman. While getting an education, he worked as a taxi driver and security guard. Mike Adenuga got his secondary education in Ibadan where he studied at Northwestern Alva Oklahoma State University and Pace University in New York. He further proceeded to receive an MBA in business administration. He is married to Titi Joyce Adenuga but has 8 children with different women.

Business

He has built a fortune in mobile telecommunication and oil production. His company, Globacom, which he started in 2006 has reached millions of subscribers and has gotten licences to begin operation in Ghana and Ivory Coast. Globacom is Nigeria’s second-largest telecom operator behind MTN Nigeria.

Mike Adenuga became the first Nigerian to deal in oil in commercial quantities after being awarded an oil prospecting license from Nigeria’s ex military president, Ibrahim Babangida.

His oil company produces lubricants and chemicals of high quality for both domestic and industrial use.

Mike Adenuga Adenuga also has some investments in real estate which is worth billions of dollars. His companies provide direct employment to thousands of workers and millions of others indirectly.

Mike Adenuga’s House

It is purported that Mike Adenuga’s estate is worth over 1 billion naira in Banana Island, a highly sought-after luxurious artificial island for the creme de la creme of society. His magnificent estate comprises of 9 duplexes, two watchtowers, a mosque, a church and a hall that accommodates about 200 people.

Mike Adenuga can be very lavish when he want to be. In 2013, he bought a brand new Range Rover in addition to the latest Toyota Camry at the time for Nigeria’s Super Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi. He was also giving the Coach a house in Abuja plus $200,000 cash in addition to his 2 years’ salary as a congratulatory present for winning the Orange African Cup of Nations.

• Nicky Oppenheimer

Net worth : $7.3 billion

Age : 73 years

Origin of wealth : Diamonds

Country: South Africa

Nicky Oppenheimer is South Africa’s richest person who made his fortune when he sold his family’s 40 percent stake in the world’s largest producer of rough diamond, De beers, to a multinational mining company called Anglo American in August 2012 for $5.2 billion.

Nicky Oppenheimer’s wife is called Orcillia Lasch Oppenheimer and she is the daughter of a renowned business magnate called Helli Lasch. Nicky Oppenheimer’s son called Jonathan Oppenheimer is also a businessman worth billion of dollars. The Oppenheimer family, right from Ernest Oppenheimer to Harry Oppenheimer and finally Nicky have been very successful diamond merchants and have done a good job at maintaining wealth in the family.

Nicky Oppenheimer is also known for his investment deals. It is purported that he told Bloomberg News in an interview that he planned to deploy most of the proceeds of his company into private equity investments focused on Africa. Nicky Oppenheimer runs a charity called the Brenthurst Foundation. They work as a think tank in generating ideas and policy proposals to strengthen economic expansion in Africa.

• Nassef Sawiris

Net worth : $6.3 billion

Age : 58 years

Origin of wealth : Construction, Chemicals

Country: Egypt

Nassef Sawiris is a construction and chemicals tycoon and Egypt’s richest person who manages one of the world’s biggest nitrogen fertilizer producers with plants in both Iowa and Texas. He has a 30 percent stake in a green energy and chemical company called Oriental Chemical Industries (OCI).

He also became the CEO of Orascom Construction in 1998 and began to oversee its activities when the management of the company was transferred from his father, Onsi Sawiris, to him.

Nassef Sawiris has stakes in Lafarge Holcim which is a leading manufacturer in building materials and Adidas; the world’s leading sportswear manufacturer where he sits on the supervisory board.

As a member of one of Egypt’s wealthiest families, Mr. Sawiris became the Executive Chairman of Aston Villa Football Club when he bought majority control of the club from its previous owner, Tony Xia. It should be noted that his father Onsi Sawiris and his brother Naguib Sawiris are both billionaires. His brother is the chairman of Weather Investments’ parent company and Orascom Investment Holding.

The Sawiris are known for owning a yacht called Yalla. The Yacht Yalla (valued at $80 million) is 73 meters in length and can accommodate 12 guests in 6 suites and has facilities for 22 crew members. It is purported to belong to Naguib Sawiris.

• Johann Rupert

Net worth : $5.3 billion

Age : 68 years

Origin of wealth : Luxury goods

Country: South Africa

Johann Rupert is a South African billionaire who is the chairman of Compagnie Financiere Richemont, a Switzerland based luxury goods holding company that produces and sells jewellery, watches, leather goods and pens among other products. The company is best known for the Cartier and Montblac brands.

He is also the chairman of an investment holding company based in South Africa called Remgro, which has some great brands including Rainbow Chicken, which is a significant supplier of chicken to KFC in South Africa. Mr. Rupert comes from a wealthy family as his father, Anton Rupert, is a billionaire businessman who is known for his philanthropy and conservative nature.Johann Rupert has three children, one son and two daughters namely Anton Rupert Jr., Caroline Rupert and Hanneli Rupert.

Johann Rupert dropped out of school where he was studying Economics and Company law at the University of Stellenbosch to pursue a career in Business. The University nevertheless awarded him with an honorary doctorate in Economics in 2004.

During an interview Johann Rupert had with a South African based radio station called Power FM, he made some remarks that were deemed derogatory and stereotypical to one of the tribes in South Africa. He later took to Twitter to apologise.

Johann Rupert also follows in the footsteps of his father as a committed conservationist.