List Of The Top 20 Richest People in Africa
This list has seen Aliko Dangote from Nigeria holding the number 1. position for ten years in a row.
Interestingly, the top 20 richest persons in Africa are billionaires from just seven African countries, and we have Egypt and South Africa gaining the most entry’s, followed by Nigeria and then Morocco.
Despite the financial issues in several African countries, these sets of people seem unscathed, with their wealth ever increasing.
Today, we introduced to you the top 20 Richest Persons in the world; here’s the list below:-
- Yasseen Mansour
Net Worth: 1.1 billion
Country: Egypt
Yasseen is a shareholder of the Mansour Group and the chairman of Palm Hills Development, a real estate developer based in Egypt.
The conglomerate Mansour Group is the only Franchise of McDonald’s in Egypt and Gauloises cigarette distributor.
- Strive Masiyiwa
Net Worth: $1.2 billion
Country: Zimbabwe
In 1998 he launched Econet Wireless Zimbabwe and owned about 50% of it.
Strive also owns over half of the fiber optic and satellite service firm Liquid Telecom. In addition, his investments investment in fintech, power distribution, and mobile phone networks has paid off.
In addition, he founded Higherlife Foundation with his wife Tsitsi, which helps and supports poor and orphaned children in Zimbabwe, Burundi, and South Africa.
- Michiel Le Roux
Net Worth: $1.2 billion
Country: South African
Michiel Le Roux is a South African founder of Capitec Bank, founded in 2001. A bank in which he owns a stake of 11%.
He served as the board chairman from 2007-2016 and has continued as a board member.
Michiel previously ran Boland Bank, a bank in Cape Towns’ hinterland.
- Othman Benjelloun
Net Worth: $1.3 billion
Country: Morocco
The CEO and Chairman of BMCE Bank of Africa, Othman’s father was an RMA shareholder, a Moroccan company he built into a leading insurer.
He also has a stake in the telecom firm Orange. In 2014 he inaugurated a $500 million plan to make the Mohammed VI Tower, about 55 stories, one of Africa’s tallest buildings.
In addition, Othman owns one of the biggest cattle ranches, Adarouch, as well as FinanceCom.
In 2016 he and his wife received the David Rockefeller Bridging Leadership Award for building schools in the rural parts of Morocco.
- Youssef Mansour
Net Worth: $1.5 billion
Country: Egypt
Youssef studied Business Administration at Auburn University during his Master’s degree and Engineering in his Bachelor’s degree at the North Carolina State University.
He is the chairman of Mansour Group, a family-owned conglomerate founded by his father.
The company distributes Caterpillar equipment and GM vehicles in several countries.
Youssef is in charge of overseeing the consumer goods division and sole distribution for L’Oreal in Egypt.
Read also: Where Does Vanilla Flavoring Come From? Who discovers Vanilla Flavour?
- Mohammed Dewji
Net Worth: $1.6 million
Country: Tanzania
46 year old Tanzanian and richest man in East Africa, Dewji is the CEO of MeTL Group, a commodity trading business which deals with flour milling, textile manufacturing, beverages, and oil, was founded by his father.
The company operates in six African countries, with more vision to expand.
He signed the Giving Pledge to donate half his fortune to philanthropic activities. In October 2018, he was kidnapped at gunpoint and released nine days after.
To compete with Coca-Cola, he launched Mo Cola years ago.
- Isabel dos Santos
Net Worth: $2 billion
Country: Angola
The oldest daughter of Angola’s former president, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, was made head of Angola’s state oil firm, Sonangol, but was removed from that position in 2017.
She had stakes with companies in Angola, including telecom firms and banks, while her father was still president.
The court froze Isabel’s stakes in the Angolan companies, involving the state oil firm’s funds.
- Aziz Akhannouch
Net Worth: $2 billion
Country: Morocco
The owner of Akwa Group was founded by his father, Ahmed Wakrim, in 1932.
The company majors in petroleum, chemicals, and gas through Afriquia Gaz and Maghreb Oxygene.
He is currently Morocco’s minister of Agriculture and Fisheries. His wife Salwa Idrissi runs her franchise company for Gucci, Ralph Lauren, and Gap in Morocco.
- Mohamed Mansour
Net Worth: $2.5 billion
Country: Egypt
Overseer of Mansour Group, a family-owned conglomerate founded by his father Loutfy in 1952.
In 1975 Mohamed created a General Motors dealership in Egypt and became one of the biggest distributors worldwide.
From 2006-2009 he served as Egypt’s Minister of Transportation under the regime of Hosni Mubarak.
While growing up, his father lost his fortune facing the expropriation of his cotton trading company.
As a result, Mohamed had no choice but to work in a pizza parlor as a busboy to pay for North Carolina State University college.
- Koos Bekker
Net Worth: $2.8 billion
Country: South Africa
Famous for the transformation of Naspers, a South African newspaper publisher, into a cable TV powerhouse and eCommerce investor.
He helped Naspers invest in Tencent, a Chinese internet and media firm, in 2001. He then sold a 2% stake in Tencent in 2018.
Koos Bekker retired as Naspers CEO in 2014 and then returned as chairman in 2015.
He also owns a Babylonstoren estate of about 690 acres in South Africa.
The estate constitutes a vineyard, farm, backdated architecture pieces, and many others. In 2015 he sold about 70% of his shares in Naspers.
Richest People in Africa
- Patrice Motsepe
Net Worth: $3 billion
Country: South Africa
The first black African on the 2016 Forbes list and Founder of African Rainbow Minerals mines gold, ferrous metals, and platinum. He launched African Rainbow Capital and an Africa-focused investment.
He has a stake in financial services firm Sanlam and is the president of Mamelodi Sundowns Football Club.
Patrice was the first African to sign Bill Gates and Warren Buffets Giving Pledge, promising to give charity at least half of his fortune.
Read also: Fascinating Details About The Top 20 Most Expensive Cars In The World
- Naguib Sawiris
Net Worth: $3.2 billion
Country: Egypt
His brother Nassef is the second richest man in Africa. Naguib earned his fortune from the telecommunication company he built.
He sold Orascom Telecom to Vimpelcom, a Russian Telecom, in 2011. He also owns a large percentage of pan-European pay-TV and news network Euronews.
He developed Silversands, a luxury resort on the Caribbean island of Grenada.
- Issad Rebrab
Net Worth: $4.4 billion
Country: Algeria
CEO of Cevital Industrial group, one of Algeria’s most significant privately-owned companies.
A company is active in steel, agribusiness, electronics, and food production.
Cevital owns one of the largest sugar refineries globally and Groupe Brandt, a French home appliances maker.
- Abdul Samad Rabiu
Net Worth: $5.5 billion
Country: Nigeria
Son of one of Nigeria’s foremost 1970s and 1980s industrialists, Khalifah Isyaku Rabiu, Abdul Samas Rabiu is the founder of one of Nigeria’s conglomerates active in the production of cement, refining of sugar, and real estate, BUA Group.
After inheriting land from his father, he is said to have started as an importer of irons, steels, and chemicals in 1988.
- Femi Otedola
Net Worth: $5.9 billion
Country: Nigeria
Femi Otedola is a Nigerian philanthropist and businessman known as Forte’s Oil PLC’s former chairman.
He owns finance, real estate, and shipping companies and is the founder of Zenon Petroleum and Gas LTD.
- Mike Adenuga
Net Worth: $6.3 billion
Country: Nigeria
The second richest man in Nigeria, Mike Adenuga’s fortune, was built centered on Telecommunications and Oil production.
Also known as the CEO of Globacom, a mobile phone network that is the third-largest in Nigeria with over 55 million subscribers.
His oil company, Conoil Producing, operates six oil blocks in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria.
A billionaire who worked his way from the bottom, Mike Adenuga worked as a taxi driver while supporting himself as a student.
Then, at 26, he made his first million distributing soft drinks and selling lace.
Read also: Interesting Facts About The Top 20 Most Expensive Bike In The World
- Johann Rupert
Net Worth: $7.2 billion
Country: South Africa
Chairman of Swiss-based luxury goods company Richemont, formed in 1998 through a Rembrandt Group Limited (now Remgro) asset spinoff, owned by his father, Anton.
Johann Rupert owns a 25% stake in Reinet, a Luxembourg investment company, and a 7% stake in Remgro, which he still chairs.
The billionaire also owns part of Anthonij Rupert Wines (named after his late brother) and Saracens English Rugby team.
However, he claims his major regret was not buying half of Gucci for $175 million when he had the opportunity to.
- Nicky Oppenheimer
Net Worth: $8.1 billion
Country: South Africa
The richest South African, Nicky Oppenheimer, is the heir to his family fortune and sold a 40% stake of their diamond firm De Beers to mining giant Anglo American for $5.1 billion in 2012.
The Oppenheimer’s controlled the world’s diamond trade for 85 years until the company got sold in 2012.
Nicky Oppenheimer then started Fireblade Aviation in Johannesburg, which operates chartered plane and helicopter flights.
He also owns the most significant private game reserve in South Africa, Tswalu Kahalari Reserve.
- Nassef Sawiris
Net Worth: $9.2 billion
Country: Egypt
He is known as the wealthiest Arab and the second richest African.
Egyptian billionaire Nassef Sawiris is the youngest of Onsi Sawiri’s three sons, a family known as Egypt’s wealthiest.
In 2015 he split Orascom Construction Industries into two: OCI and Orascom Construction.
OCI is one of the world’s largest producers of nitrogen fertilizers and Orascom Construction, a building and engineering firm he runs.
He also has stakes in Lafarge, Adidas, and Holcim. Nassef is also on the supervisory board of Adidas.
In addition, he is known to have teamed up with Fortress Investment Groups to purchase the football club Aston Villa.
Read also: Fascinating Details About The 20 Most Expensive Paintings In the World
- Aliko Dangote
Net Worth: $12.5 billion
Country: Nigeria
Aliko Dangote is the wealthiest person in Africa and unsurprisingly the richest man in his home country, Nigeria.
Having schooled at Al-Azhar University and earning his Bachelor of Arts/Science, the self-made billionaire worked his way to the very top.
Dangote’s grandfather was a known and successful trader of both oats and rice in one of the largest cities in Nigeria.
Therefore, growing up to trading, Dangote started buying sweets and selling them to others, earning profits for himself.
Dangote is the founder and chairman of Dangote Cement, the largest cement-producing company in the continent. He also owns stakes in salt and sugar manufacturing companies.
He began the construction of Dangote Refinery in 2016, and it is said that his oil refinery, upon completion, will be among the world’s largest.
His primary source of income is from the sales of cement and sugar.
