The 2022 edition of the Forbes’ Top 10 Africa’s Billionaires List has retained Mr. Aliko Dangote as the richest man in Africa, with a net worth of $13.9 billion
According to a in a post on Forbs verified Twitter account @Forbes, Dangote has, for 11 year running is the continent’s richest person, worth an estimated $13.9 billion, up from $12.1 billion in 2021.
According to the report, the rating followed a 30 per cent increase in the stock price of Dangote Cement which is the billionaire’s most priced investment.
The report also stated that the continent’s billionaires were richer than they had been in years, despite the global covid pandemic.
As a group, the continent’s 18 billionaires were worth an estimated $84.9 billion – a 15 per cent increase from twelve months ago and the most since 2014, when a larger number of billionaires–28–were worth a combined $96.5 billion.
On the average, the continent’s billionaires are now worth $4.7 billion, up from $3.4 billion in 2014 with soaring stock prices from Nigeria to Zimbabwe lifting the fortunes of the billionaires as demand for products from cement to luxury goods increases.
Jumping to number two from the list, up from number four position last year, was luxury goods magnate, Johann Rupert of South Africa.
More than 60 per cent surge in the share price of his Compagnie Financiere Richemont–maker of Cartier watches and Montblanc pens–pushed his fortune to $11 billion, up from $7.2 billion a year ago, making him the biggest dollar gainer on the list.
South African Nicky Oppenheimer, who formerly ran diamond mining firm DeBeers before selling it to mining firm Anglo American a decade ago, ranked number three, with an estimated net worth $8.7 billion.
The biggest gainer in percentage term, up 125 per cent was Strive Masiyiwa of Zimbabwe, worth $2.7 billion, up from $1.2 billion last year.
Shares of Econet Wireless Zimbabwe, which he founded, rose more than 750 per cent in the past year, helping to drive up the size of his fortune.
Chairman of BUA Group, Abdulsamad Rabiu emerged as the fifth richest man in Africa out of the 18 billionaires listed.
The Nigerian cement tycoon is $1.5 billion richer after another of his companies went public.
In early January 2022, Rabiu listed his sugar and food firm BUA Foods on the Nigerian stock exchange.
He and his son retained a 96 per cent stake in the company, which recently had a market capitalisation of nearly $2.8 billion. (Forbes discounts the values of stakes when the public float is less than five per cent).
BUA Cement, in which he and his son had a 96 per cent stake, listed in January 2020.
Globacom owner Mike Adenuga ranked as the sixth richest African.
According to the release, only two of the 18 billionaires are worth less than in 2021: Koos Bekker of South Africa, who dropped to $2.7 billion from $2.8 billion as the share prices of consumer Internet firms Naspers and Prosus fell more than 20per cent each.
Tanzania’s Mohammed Dewji’s fortune declined to an estimated $1.5 billion from $1.6 billion a year ago due to lower multiples for publicly traded competitors.
The 18 billionaires from Africa, who were not new to the ranking, also hailed from seven different countries.
South Africa and Egypt had five billionaires apiece, followed by Nigeria and Morocco with three and Morocco billionaires each.
All of the continent’s billionaires were men; the last woman to appear in the ranking, Isabel dos Santos of Angola, fell off the Forbes list in January 2021.
Forbes noted that they list tracked the wealth of African billionaires who resided in Africa or had their primary business there, thus excluding Sudanese-born billionaire, Mo Ibrahim, who is a U.K. citizen.
It added that the net worth was calculated using stock prices and currency exchange rates from the close of business on Wednesday, January 19.
“To value privately held businesses, we start with estimates of revenues or profits and apply prevailing price-to-sale or price-to-earnings ratios for similar public companies.
“Some list members grow richer or poorer within weeks-or days-of our measurement date,” Forbes said.
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With NAN report
