The President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, for the 10th year in a row emerged Africa’s richest and is worth $12.1 billion, up by $2 billion from last year’s list, according to 2021 Forbe’s Billionaire’s List.
Dangote’s wealth grew due to about 30 percent rise in the share price of Dangote Cement, which his most valuable asset.
Dangote Cement produces 45.6 million metric tons annually and has operations in 10 countries across Africa.
He also owns stakes in publicly-traded salt and sugar manufacturing companies. Dangote’s refinery has been under construction since 2016 and is expected to be one of the world’s largest oil refineries once complete.
The Chairman of Globacom, Dr Mike Adenuga, is Nigeria’s second richest and also emerged as the fifth richest billionaire in Africa, according to Forbe’s List.
Adenuga built his fortune in telecom and oil production. His mobile phone network, Globacom, is the third largest operator in Nigeria, with 43 million subscribers.
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The Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, BUA Group, Abdulsamad Rabiu, who first featured in the list in 2019, was the biggest gainer this year and emerged as the sixth richest on the continent.
Rabiu’s shares in BUA Cement PLC, which listed on the Nigeria Stock Exchange in January 2020, have doubled in value in the past year.
This pushed Rabiu’s wealth up by 77 per cent, to $5.5 billion.
While some got richer by the billions, two from the 2020 list of Africa’s richest dropped below the $1 billion mark.
The only two women billionaires from Africa fell off the list.
According to Forbes, the fortune of Folorunsho Alakija of Nigeria, who owns an oil exploration company, dropped below $1 billion due to lower oil prices.
Also, Isabel dos Santos, who since 2013 has been the richest woman in Africa, was knocked from her perch by a series of court decisions freezing her assets in both Angola and Portugal.
The second richest, Nassef Sawiris, from Egypt, has six percent stake in sportswear maker Adidas.
Nicky Oppenheimer of South Africa is the third richest.
Oppenheimer inherited a stake in diamond firm DeBeers and ran the company until 2012, when he sold his family’s 40 per cent stake in DeBeers to mining giant AngloAmerican for $5.1 billion.
