Africa is a continent teeming with wealthy and influential personalities. A big number of these individuals are men with some even making it to the Forbes billionaires list. We take a look at the 10 richest men in Africa according to Forbes as of July 3, 2024.
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1. Aliko Dangote
Aliko Dangote is the richest man in Africa and the richest black man in the world. Dangote has a net worth of $13.5 billion according to Forbes.
Dangote is the founder and CEO of Dangote Group, Nigeria’s largest private sector employer and the largest conglomerate in West Africa.
Born in 1957, Dangote has always had a knack for entrepreneurship. He has interests in several industries including oil and gas, consumer goods, and manufacturing. Dangote Cement which is Africa’s biggest cement producer is Dangote’s biggest revenue earner.
He owns 85% of the 48.6 million metric ton capacity company which operates in over 10 African countries. For instance, in 2023 alone, Dangote Cement Group reported annual revenue of $1.39 billion.
The billionaire also owns a sugar refinery. It is the third-largest sugar refinery in the world. The refinery imports sugar from Brazil, refines it, packages it and resells it in Nigeria and other African countries.
Dangote also recently entered the oil and gas sector. To put his extensive cash reserves to use, the business magnate constructed the Dangote refinery, the world’s largest oil refinery, which only just recently started production.
2. Johann Rupert
Johann Rupert is a South African businessman with a net worth of $11.5 billion according to Forbes. Born in 1950, He is the eldest son of business tycoon Anton Rupert and his wife Huberte.
Rupert is the chairman of Swiss-based luxury goods firm Compagnie Financiere Richemont. Under Richemont, he manages a huge portfolio of luxury brands such as Cartier and Montblanc Alaïa, Chloé and Dunhill.
The mogul is credited with having made Richemont the epitome of luxury goods companies. also the Non-executive Chairman of Remgro Limited, a diversified investment firm and Chairman of Reinet Investments where he has a 27% stake.
3. Nicky Oppenheimer
Nicky Oppenheimer is a South African billionaire, born on June 8 1945. He has a net worth of $9.5 billion according to Forbes.
Oppenheimer was the heir to the De Beers. diamond mining company, the world’s leading diamond company. However, in 2012, he sold his 40% stake in the company to mining group Anglo American for $5.1 billion in cash, ending the diamond dynasty’s ownership. For 85 years, up until 2012, the Oppenheimer family had a controlling spot in the world’s diamond trade.
Oppenheimer is also the former deputy chairman of Anglo-American. The magnate started Fireblade Aviation in Johannesburg in 2014, a company that operates chartered flights.
Further, the tycoon has private equity investments in Africa, Asia, the US, and Europe.
4. Nassef Sawiris
Nassef Onsi Sawiris is an Egyptian businessman. He was born on January 19, 1961, and is the youngest son of the late tycoon Onsi Sawiris’ sons. Nassef has a net worth of $8.8 billion.
He began his career at Orascom Construction where he oversaw construction. His father gained management control of the company three years later and eventually transferred the control to Nasser who became CEO.
Fast forward years later and the businessman now has shares in several conglomerates including sportswear company Adidas and Lafarge Holcim, the largest global cement maker.
The tycoon also runs Dutch company OCI, the largest fertiliser producer globally.
Further, Nassef has invested heavily in sports and is part owner of V Sports, the company that owns the international football club Aston Villa. He also has a 29% stake in Vitória S.C
5. Mike Adenuga
Nigerian billionaire Chief Michael Adeniyi Agbolade Ishola Adenuga Jr was born on April 29, 1953, and is worth $6.7 billion according to Forbes.
Adenuga founded Nigeria’s second-largest mobile phone network Globacom. The telecommunications company operates in Nigeria, Benin, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire and has over 60 million subscribers.
The tycoon is also the founder of Conoil Producing Limited formerly Consolidated Oil, which was the first Nigerian company to discover and produce oil in commercial quantities.
Adenuga owns 74% of the National Oil and Chemical Company, a firm he acquired and rebranded as Conoil Plc.
6. Abdulsamad Rabiu
Abdulsamad Rabiu is a Nigerian business mogul with a net worth of $5.5 billion according to Forbes. He is the founder of BUA Group, a conglomerate with interests in cement production, sugar refining and real estate. He serves as the Chairperson and CEO of BUA.
Rabiu is married and resides in Lagos, Nigeria with his family.
7. Naguib Sawiris
Naguib Sawiris is Nassef Sawiris’ cousin and a billionaire in his own right. He is the founder of Orascom Telecom Holding, a major telecommunications firm. He sold the company to Russian telecom firm VimpelCom (now Veon) in 2011 for over $4 billion.
Naguib is the Executive Chairman of Orascom Investment Holding, Chairman of the Advisory Board of La Mancha Holding, an international gold producer, and sits on the board of Evolution Mining, the second-largest gold producer in Australia, and Endeavour Mining, Africa’s third-largest gold producer.
In 2015, the business magnate managed the acquisition of 53% of Euronews, Europe’s leading news channel. He is currently the company’s chairman.
8. Mohamed Mansour
Mohamed Mansour is an Egyptian billionaire with a net worth of $3.3 billion. He is the chairperson of the global conglomerate Mansour Group. The Mansour Group is the biggest distributor of General Motors outside of China. The company also distributes for Chevrolet and Caterpillar.
Mansour is also the chairman of Man Capital LLP, the global investment arm of the Mansour Group. Man Capital is Mansour’s family office and is the second largest shareholder of Caffe Nero, a coffee chain that has employed around 9,000 people in Britain.
Mansour who was recently knighted by Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, sits on the advisory council of several prestigious, global organisations including the Bank of America.
9. Patrice Motsepe
Dr Patrice Motsepe is a South African business mogul with a $3.1 billion net worth. He was the first black African ever listed on Forbes, a feat he achieved when he became a billionaire in 2008. is the founder and chairman of African Rainbow Minerals (ARM), a leading mining company based in South Africa.
Motsepe is also the founder and Chairman of Ubuntu-Botho Investments through which he acquired a stake in financial services firm Sanlam. He also founded private equity firm African Rainbow Capital which has enabled him to invest in various companies spanning insurance, banking, telecommunications and even IT.
10. Koos Bekker
Koos Bekker is a South African billionaire with a net worth of $2.8 billion. He is the founder of M-Net and Multichoice, one of the first paid television services in Africa. M-Net and Multichoice now dominate the television services scene in Africa operating in over 48 countries.
The tycoon is also a founding director of the mobile network company MTN.
Additionally, Bekker transformed South African newspaper publisher Naspers (where he owns a controlling stake) growing the company’s market capitalisation from $1.2 billion to $45 billion. This he did through strategic investments such as paying $34 million for a third of Chinese Internet firm Tencent Holdings in 2001. A move that paid off handsomely.
