There are 29 African
billionaires this year, the same number as in 2014. While 2 tycoons – South
African mining magnate Desmond Sacco and
Moroccan real
estate mogul Anas Sefrioui fell
off the billionaire rankings this year, Mohammed Dewji of
Tanzania makes his debut on the list with a fortune estimated at $1.3 billion. At
39, Dewji is the youngest billionaire in Africa. Dewji’s company, METL Group
manufactures textiles and consumer goods and has annual revenues of more than
$1.4 billion.
Nigerian-born Femi Otedola, 50, rejoins the list of African
billionaires after a 5-year hiatus with a $1 billion fortune. He owns a
controlling stake in Forte Oil, a
publicly-listed energy distribution company in Nigeria. Folorunsho Alakija of
Nigeria and Isabel dos Santos of
Angola are the only two female billionaires on the continent.
Meet the Top 5 Africans who are worth $1 billion or more:
Aliko Dangote, $15.7 billion
Nigerian: Cement, Flour, Sugar
Falling stock prices and a recent valuation of
the Naira might have dented his fortune, causing him to lose roughly $10
billion since last year, but Aliko Dangote is still the
richest man in Africa. His Dangote Group is West Africa’s largest industrial
conglomerate and has interests in cement production, flour milling, sugar
refining and food and beverages.
Johann Rupert & Family, $7.4 billion
South African, Luxury Goods
Rupert is
the chairman of publicly-listed Swiss-based luxury goods outfit Compagnie
Financiere Richemont , which owns brands including Cartier , Van Cleef & Arpels, Jaeger-LeCoultre and
Montblanc. He also owns stakes in investment holding companies Remgro and
Reinet. He also owns two of South Africa’s best-known vineyards, Rupert &
Rothschild and L’Ormarins as well as the Franschhoek Motor
Museum which houses his personal
collection of over 200 antique vehicles.
Nicky Oppenheimer & Family, $6.7 billion
South African, Diamonds
Oppenheimer cashed out of the diamond
business in July 2012 when he disposed of his family’s 40% stake in his
family’s diamond business, De Beers to Anglo American for $5.1 billion in an
all-cash deal that marked the end of the Oppenheimer family’s multi-decade
control of the diamond company. His E. Oppenheimer & Son entity controls
investment arms Stockdale Street Capital and Tana Africa Capital, a joint
venture with Singapore government-owned investment firm Temasek. Tana holds minority
interests in African food manufacturers Promasidor and Regina Co.
Christoffel Wiese, $6.3 billion
South African, Retail
Wiese, a South African retail mogul,
owns a 15% stake in Shoprite Holdings, a chain of low-price supermarkets with a
presence across multiple African countries. He also owns a large stake in
Pepkor, a private company that owns seven different discount fashion
brands. His other assets include Lanzerac Manor & Winery, a
five-star hotel and a significant shareholding in Brait, a private equity firm.
Nassef Sawiris, $6.3 billion
Egyptian, Construction
Sawiris, Egypt’s richest man is the CEO of Orascom Construction Industries (OCI),
the country’s most valuable publicly-traded company. He plans to separate OCI’s
construction unit from its chemicals and fertilizers business, and list the
newly formed Orascom Construction in Egypt and the UAE in the first quarter of
2015. He also sealed a partnership last November with Abu Dhabi’s International
Petroleum Investment Co. to develop a coal-based power plant in Egypt.