Dangote is still Africa’s richest man

Nigerian industrialist, Aliko Dangote continues to dominate the rankings of Forbes’ ‘Africa’s Richest 2020’ list. 

The 64 year-old cement baron, worth an estimated $10.1 billion, topped the list for the ninth consecutive year as his wealth grew on the back of investments.  

Dangote’s fortune, built on cement, is down from $10.3 billion a year ago amid a dip in the Dangote Cement share price. He is currently building the world’s largest single oil refinery with capacity of 650,000 barrels per day (bpd) to help to reduce Nigeria’s dependence on imported petroleum. 

Egyptian telecoms magnate Nassef Sawiris came second in Africa with a net worth rising to $8 billion from $6.3 billion the year before. Sawiris is chairman of private gold mining group La Mancha, while his family controls the sprawling Orascom business empire.

Overall, Africa’s billionaires as a whole grew richer in 2020 to a combined $73.4 billion, up from $68.7 billion a year ago.

Apart from Dangote, three other Nigerians – Mike Adenuga, Abdul Samad Rabiu and Folorunsho Alakija – also feature on the list that was released on February 6.

Mike Adenuga, Chairman of Globacom came second in Nigeria and third in Africa with a fortune of $7.7billion, while Abdul Samad Rabiu of BUA Group was 3^rd in Nigeria and 8^th in Africa with a fortune of $3.13bn – moving up 8 places from last year.

Folorunsho Alakija of Famfa Oil ranked 20th richest person in Africa with a fortune of $1bn.

Of the four Nigerians on this year’s Forbes list, BUA’s Abdul Samad Rabiu was the only one to grow richer since last year. In January, Abdul Samad merged his Obu Cement Company with the publicly listed Cement Company of Northern Nigeria (CCNN) where he had controlling shares. The new entity listed as BUA Cement Plc on the Nigeria Stock Exchange became the third largest on the exchange with N1.18 trillion market capitalization.

According to Forbes’ listing, only eight of Africa’s 54 nations are home to billionaires. Egypt and South Africa have five billionaires each, Nigeria has four, while Morocco has two. Zimbabwe and Tanzania have one billionaire each. 

The net worth of billionaires on Forbes list were calculated using stock prices and currency exchange rates from the close of business on Friday January 10, 2020, according to the magazine.

Others on the list from the continent include Nicky Oppenheimer worth $7.7 billion, Johann Rupert $6.5 billion, Issad Rebrab $4.4 billion, Mohamed Mansour $3.3 billion, Naguib Sawiris $3 billion, Patrice Motsepe $2.6 billion, Koos Bekker  $2.5 billion, Yasseen Mansour $2.3 billion, Isabel dos Santos $2.2 billion, Youssef Mansour $1.9 billion, Aziz Akhannouch $1.7 billion, Mohammed Dewji $1.6 billion, Othman Benjelloun $1.4 billion, Michiel Le Roux $1.3 billion, Strive Masiyiwa $1.1billion and Folorunso Alakija $1 billion.

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