Fortunes in Africa: top 5 richest according to Forbes
Africa, a cradle of various economic opportunities, has emerged with several colossal fortunes over the last decades. African billionaires have generally built their empires in strategic sectors such as telecommunications, mining, cement, banking, and manufacturing. These entrepreneurs have identified the fundamental needs of their local markets while developing conglomerates that have gradually become internationalized.
Many have taken advantage of the waves of privatizations in their respective countries, acquiring assets previously owned by the state at advantageous prices. Others have created their businesses from scratch, overcoming the challenges of limited infrastructure and political instability to build diversified business empires.
A record year for the continent’s billionaires
The past year marks a historic turning point for the tremendous African fortunes. For the first time, their cumulative wealth exceeds 100 billion dollars, reaching 105 billion. This spectacular increase represents an increase of almost 23 billion compared to the previous year, when 20 billionaires accumulated 82.4 billion dollars. This remarkable growth has occurred despite the many economic challenges that the continent is experiencing: political uncertainties, monetary crises, and complex consumer markets.
Zimbabwe perfectly illustrates these difficulties, abandoning the Zimbabwean dollar in favor of the ZiG, a gold-backed currency, to curb hyperinflation. This growth in African fortunes aligns with the evolution of world stock markets, which increased by 22% over the twelve months preceding February 2025.
5 of the most famous African fortunes
1. Aliko Dangote
For the fourteenth consecutive year, Nigerian Aliko Dangote is at the top of this ranking. His estimated fortune of $23.9 billion has dramatically increased from the previous year’s $13.9 billion. This increase is mainly due to the addition of the value of its refinery, which finally opened its doors near Lagos after numerous delays.
Despite years of regulatory difficulties and other obstacles, this facility began refining oil in early 2024 and should reach full capacity this month. This progress allows Nigeria, an important oil producer, to export refined petroleum products. Dangote, aged 67, considers this project “a crucial step to ensure that Africa can refine its crude oil, thus creating wealth and prosperity for its vast population.”
2. Johann Rupert
Second place goes to South African Johann Rupert, a luxury tycoon whose fortune has increased by 39% to reach $14 billion, the second-highest increase among African billionaires. Rupert has been in this position since 2022.
Johann Rupert is president of the Swiss luxury goods company Compagnie Financière Richemont, best known for the Cartier and Montblanc brands. The company was formed in 1998 through a split of assets belonging to Rembrandt Group Limited (now Remgro Limited), which his father Anton formed in the 1940s.
He owns 7% of the diversified investment company Remgro, which he chairs, and 27% of Reinet, an investment holding company based in Luxembourg. Visit. A F R I N I K . C O M . For the full article. Rupert has vehemently opposed plans to authorize hydraulic fracturing in the Karoo, a region of South Africa where he owns land.
3. Nicky Oppenheimer
South African Nicky Oppenheimer and his family completed the podium with 10.4 billion dollars. Nicky Oppenheimer, heir to the diamond fortune of De Beers, used 40% of the company to the Anglo-American group manager for $5.1 billion in cash in 2012. He was the third generation of his family to run De Beers, and he privatized the company in 2001.
For 85 years, until 2012, the Oppenheimer family was prominent in the global diamond trade. In 2014, Oppenheimer launched Fireblade Aviation in Johannesburg, which operates charter flights. He owns at least 720 miles of protected land across South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique.
4. Nassef Sawiris
The Egyptian Nassef Sawiris ranks fourth with $9.6 billion. Nassef Sawiris is an investor and a descendant of Egypt’s wealthiest family. In December 2020, he acquired a 5% stake in the New York-listed company Madison Square Garden Sports, owner of the NBA Knicks and NHL Rangers teams. He heads OCI, one of the largest nitrogen fertilizer producers in the world, with plants in Texas and Iowa; it is listed on the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange.
Orascom Construction, an engineering and construction company, trades on the Cairo Stock Exchange and Nasdaq Dubai. His holdings include an almost 6% stake in the German sportswear giant Adidas. Nassef Sawiris has teamed up with Wes Edens of Fortress Investment Group to buy Aston Villa’s Premier League football club.
5. Mike Adenuga
Nigerian Mike Adenuga closes this top 5 with a fortune estimated at $ 6.8 billion. Mike Adenuga from Nigeria, with a net worth of $6.8 billion, ranks 498th. Mike Adenuga, the second richest man in Nigeria, built his fortune in telecommunications and oil production. Its mobile phone network, Globacom, is the second largest operator in Nigeria, with more than 60 million subscribers. His oil exploration company, Conoil Producing, operates six oil blocks in the Niger Delta.
Globacom has also built Glo-1, a 6,100-mile-long underwater Internet cable to the UK via Ghana and Portugal. Adenuga also owns 74% of the publicly traded oil company Conoil and just under 6% of the publicly traded Nigerian bank Sterling Financial Holding.
