Despite the harsh economic times around the globe Africa added two new billionaires to its haul in 2017. Forbes Magazine says the 23 billionaires that it found in Africa are worth a combined $75.4 billion now, compared to $70 billion in January 2017.
It says the richest African, for the seventh year in a row, is Nigerian cement and commodities tycoon, Aliko Dangote, with a net worth of $12.2 billion, which means, he had raked in $100 million in a year. Dangote is looking beyond cement – his most valuable asset – and has been investing in a fertilizer production company and a large oil refinery. Dangote Fertilizer is expected to start operations in the second quarter of this year.
Number two on the list is diamond mining heir, Nicky Oppenheimer of South Africa, with a net worth of $7.7 billion, up $700 million from last year. Seven of Oppenheimer’s compatriots are on the list, placing South Africa Number 1 in Africa as the country with the most billionaires.
Zimbabwe gets its first billionaire this year: telecom magnate Strive Masiyiwa, who chairs the Econet Group. Masiyiwa owns more than half of the shares of that company. He also has a majority stake in fiber optic firm Liquid Telecom, which raised $700 million in a bond offering in July 2017. Forbes estimates Masiyiwa’s net worth at $1.7 billion.
Only 2 of the listed billionaires are women. Isabel dos Santos, the daughter of Angola’s longtime former president, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, is worth an estimated $2.7 billion this year, down from $3.2 billion a year ago. The other woman is Nigeria’s Folorunsho Alakija, whose estimated $1.6 billion fortune comes from oil exploration.
Forty-two year old Mohammed Dewji of Tanzania is the youngest on the list. Forbes put his net worth at $1.5 billion.
Onsi Sawiris of Egypt, age 88 is the oldest person on the list; he started Orascom Construction in 1950. Two of his three sons are also billionaires, including Nassef Sawiris, who at $6.8 billion is Egypt’s richest man. That is an increase from $5.3 billion a year ago, thanks to upticks in the share price of several of his holdings: Shoemaker Adidas, cement giant LaFarge/Holcim, and fertilizer maker OCI.
