For the 11th year in a row, Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote has topped Forbes magazine’s list of Africa’s wealthiest people for the year 2022.
Dangote’s fortune has risen from $12.1 billion to an estimated $13.9 billion in the last year. The boost was attributable to a 30% increase in the stock price of Dangote Cement, his most valuable asset, according to Forbes.
“In the first nine months of 2021, higher demand was driven by a surge in housing developments in Nigeria and growth in government infrastructure spending,” according to the magazine.
Abdulsamad Rabiu and Mike Adenuga, two more Nigerian billionaires, were placed 6th and 7th richest people on the continent, with estimated net worths of $7 billion and $6.7 billion, respectively. Despite the global pandemic, Africa’s billionaires were wealthier than they had been in years, according to the survey.
The continent’s 18 billionaires were collectively worth an estimated $84.9 billion, up 15% from a year ago and the most since 2014, when a bigger number of billionaires–28–were worth a combined $96.5 billion. The continent’s billionaires now have a combined net worth of $4.7 billion, up from $3.4 billion in 2014. Soaring stock prices from Nigeria to Zimbabwe boosted these tycoons’ riches, as demand for products ranging from cement to luxury goods increased.
Johann Rupert of South Africa, a luxury goods magnate, jumped to number two on the list, up from number four last year. His fortune grew by more than 60% thanks to a 60% increase in the share price of his Compagnie Financiere Richemont–maker of Cartier watches and Montblanc pens–to $11 billion, up from $7.2 billion a year ago, making him the list’s largest dollar gainer.
Nicky Oppenheimer, a South African who previously ran diamond mining giant DeBeers until selling it to mining firm Anglo American a decade ago, was ranked third, with an estimated net worth of $8.7 billion.
Strive Masiyiwa of Zimbabwe, valued $2.7 billion (up from $1.2 billion last year), was the greatest percentage gainer, up 125 percent. Econet Wireless Zimbabwe, which he established, saw its stock rise more than 750 percent in the last year, boosting his fortune.
Abdulsamad Rabiu of Nigeria, who is now worth $1.5 billion after taking another of his companies public. Rabiu’s sugar and food company, BUA Foods, was floated on the Nigerian stock exchange in early January 2022. He and his son owned 96 percent of the company, which had a market capitalization of approximately $2.8 billion at the time. (When the public float is less than 5%, Forbes lowers the value of stakes.)
In January 2020, BUA Cement, in which he and his son owned a 96 percent ownership, was listed on the stock exchange. Only two of the 18 billionaires are worth less than they were in 2021, according to the report: South African Koos Bekker’s net worth decreased to $2.7 billion from $2.8 billion after the share prices of consumer Internet companies Naspers and Prosus declined by more than 20% each.
Due to reduced multiples for publicly traded competitors, Tanzania’s Mohammed Dewji’s fortune has dropped to $1.5 billion from $1.6 billion a year ago.
The 18 African billionaires, who were not new to the list, were from seven different countries: South Africa and Egypt each had five billionaires, Nigeria had three, and Morocco had two.
The continent’s billionaires were all men; Isabel dos Santos of Angola, the latest woman to join the ranks, fell off the Forbes list in January 2021. According to Forbes, the list monitored the wealth of African billionaires who lived or did business in Africa, excluding Sudanese-born billionaire Mo Ibrahim, who is a British citizen.
Mohamed Al-Fayed, an Egyptian citizen who lives in London, is a billionaire. Due to his telecom interests in Africa, Strive Masiyiwa, a Zimbabwean citizen and London resident, was added to the list.
It went on to say that the net worth was estimated using stock prices and currency exchange rates as of Wednesday, January 19. “We start with estimations of revenues or profits and apply prevailing price-to-sale or price-to-earnings ratios for similar public companies to assess privately-held enterprises,” Forbes explained.
“Within weeks or days of our measurement date, some list members become wealthy or worse.” Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family operate Forbes, which publishes original content on finance, industry, investing, and marketing. It also covers topics including technology, communications, science, politics, and the law.
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