By Favour Nnabugwu
Four Nigerians made the list of Forbes Africa’s 20 billionaires worth a combined $82.4 billion.
The four billionaires are Femi Otedola Aliko Dangote, Mike Adenuga and AbdulSamad Rabiu
In this Forbes Africa Billionaires list, South Africa claims six spots on the ranking, followed by Egypt with five and Nigeria with four. Algeria, Tanzania and Zimbabwe each have one billionaire on the list, while Morocco has two.
The fortunes of Africa’s wealthiest people have rebounded slightly in the past 12 months, reversing the decline in their fortunes from a year ago, though they are still off their all-time highs.
The 20 billionaires on the 2024 Forbes list of Africa’s Richest are worth a combined $82.4 billion. That’s up $900 million from last year’s $81.5 billion.
All of that gain can be attributed to the return of Nigeria’s Femi Otedola, who last appeared on the Forbes Africa list in 2017 when he held a controlling stake in fuel distributor Forte Oil. Otedola phased out his oil investments during a government push to privatize the country’s energy business in 2013, using a Forte subsidiary to purchase Geregu, a public power generation plant
He owned about 90% of Geregu when it was listed on the Nigerian exchange’s Main Board in 2022, but has since sold shares to institutional investors, which include Afreximbank’s Fund for Export Development in Africa and the State Grid Corporation of China. His 73% stake in Geregu is worth more than $850 million, about three-quarters of his $1.1 billion fortune, which puts him at No. 19 on the list.
After taking Otedola’s comeback into account, Africa’s billionaires dipped slightly, but still fared better than the decline of 4% last year, when African markets faded in sync with equity values around the world. This year, African equities joined a late-year global rally, with the S&P All Africa index rising 10% in the final two months of 2023 but still ended down more than 9% in the 12 months through January 8, 2024.
The continent remains one of the world’s toughest places to build and hold onto – a billion-dollar fortune, as global investors remain leery of its stock exchanges, businesses struggle against strained economies, poor infrastructure and volatile exchange rates, while changing political winds can make, boost or bust private fortunes.
That environment favors entrenched family fortunes or those with close ties to government that continue to dominate the ranks of Africa’s richest. Nigeria’s Aliko Dangote, whose fortune rose $400 million to $13.9 billion, claimed the ranking’s No. 1 spot for the 13th year in a row, despite the political uncertainty following the February presidential election and a devaluation of the naira in 2023 that offset the rising share price of Dangote Cement.
Adenuga, Nigeria’s second richest man, built his fortune in telecom and oil production.
With a net worth of $6.9 billion; Rank in 2023: 6; Net worth in 2023: $5.6 billion
Self-made Origin of wealth: Telecom and oil; Industry: Diversified; Age: 70
Country: Nigeria; Residence: Lagos
Self-made Origin of wealth: Telecom and oil; Industry: Diversified; Age: 70
Country: Nigeria; Residence: Lagos
His mobile phone network, Globacom, is the second- largest operator in Nigeria, with 60 million subscribers.
His oil exploration outfit, Conoil Producing, operates six oil blocks in the Niger Delta.
Globacom also built Glo-1, a 6,100-mile-long submarine Internet cable to the U.K. via Ghana and Portugal.
Adenuga also owns 74% of publicly traded gasoline firm Conoil and just under 6% of publicly traded Nigerian bank Sterling Financial Holding.
Abdulsamad Rabiu is the founder of BUA Group, a Nigerian conglomerate active in cement production, sugar refining and real estate.
He has a net worth of $5.9 billion; Rank in 2023: 4; Net worth in 2023: $7.6 billion Inherited and growing; Origin of wealth: Cement and Sugar; Industry: Diversified
Age: 63; Country: Nigeria; Residence: Lagos
In early January 2020, Rabiu merged his privately-owned Obu Cement company with listed firm Cement Co. of Northern Nigeria, which he controlled. The combined firm, called BUA Cement Plc, trades on the Nigerian stock exchange; Rabiu owns 98.2% of it. He also owns 95% of publicly traded food conglomerate BUA Foods.
Rabiu, the son of a businessman, inherited land from his father. He set up his own business in 1988 importing iron, steel and chemicals.
South African luxury goods magnate Johann Rupert held onto the No. 2 spot with $10.1 billion, down from $10.7 billion in 2023 as shares of his Compagnie Financiere Richemont – maker of Cartier watches and Montblanc pens – slid. South African Nicky Oppenheimer, who formerly ran diamond mining firm DeBeers before selling it to mining firm Anglo American a decade ago, ranks No. 3, with $9.4 billion, up $1 billion from 2023. Thirteen of the billionaires added to their fortunes this year, while seven saw their net worth decline.
South Africa’s Christoffel Wiese, who rejoined the ranking last year at No. 18 with $1.1 billion after rebounding from an accounting scandal, holds onto his No. 18 rank with a $1.2 billion net worth, thanks to rising shares of his largest holding, Shoprite, and the spinoff of food business Premiere Group from Brait PLC. Wiese also cashed out on $50 million worth of Shoprite stock in October, reducing his stake in the supermarket chain.
The biggest decline on this year’s list belongs to Algerian industrial magnate Issad Rebrab, who was barred by a court in May from exercising any commercial or management duties at his conglomerate Cevital. Rebrab, who denied any wrongdoing, had previously served eight months in jail on corruption charges until his release in January 2020. Rebrab, who shares the wealth with his wife and five children – including his son, Malik, who took over as CEO in 2022 – saw his net worth fall by almost half to $2.5 billion.
The biggest gain belongs to Egypt’s Nassef Sawiris, who added $1.4 billion to $8.7 billion thanks to a rise in Adidas shares (he owns about 6%), as well as dividends from the German sneaker company and family conglomerate OCI.
