- Aliko Dangote, a Nigerian billionaire, has been named the wealthiest person in Africa for the 12th consecutive year despite seeing his fortune decline by $400 million to $13.5 billion over the previous year.
South African luxury goods magnate Johann Rupert place second in consecutive years, despite falling $300 million to $10.7 billion while Metals and Mining magnate Nicky Oppenheimer and his family placed third with $8.4 billion.
This was contained in Forbes Magazine’s newly released 2023 list of Africa’s billionaires.
Per the list, Africa’s wealthiest people shed a combined $3.1 billion in the past 12 months.
As a group, the continent’s 19 billionaires are worth an estimated $81.5 billion – down from $84.9 billion a year ago, despite one more billionaire in the ranks.
TOP 10 RICHEST PEOPLE IN AFRICA:
1. Aliko Dangote (Nigeria) – $13.5bn
2. Johann Rupert (S.Africa) – $10.7bn
3. Nicky Oppenheimer (S.Africa) – $8.4bn
4. Abdulsalmad Rabiu (Nigeria) – $7.6bn
5. Nasser Sawiris (Egypt) – $7.3bn
6. Mike Adenuga (Nigeria) – $6.3bn
7. Issad Rebrab (Algeria) – $4.6bn
8. Naguib Sawiris (Egypt) – $3.3bn
9. Patrice Motsepe (S.Africa) – $3.2bn
10. Mohamed Mansour (Egypt) – $2.9bn
The 4% dip follows a 15% jump last year on the back of soaring stock prices across the region.
These tycoons’ fortunes faded in sync with equity values around the world, with the S&P All Africa index dropping more than 20% in the first nine months of 2022, before starting a late-year rally that left the index down just 3% through January 13, the day Forbes locked in stock prices and exchange rates for the list.
Billionaires from just seven of Africa’s 54 countries made the ranks.
Methodology
The Forbes list tracks the wealth of African billionaires who reside in Africa or have their primary business there, thus excluding Sudanese-born billionaire Mo Ibrahim, who is a U.K. citizen, South African Nathan Kirsh, who operates out of London and another billionaire London resident, Mohamed Al-Fayed, an Egyptian citizen. Strive Masiyiwa, a citizen of Zimbabwe and a London resident appears on the list due to his telecom holdings in Africa.
Net worths were calculated using stock prices and currency exchange rates from the close of business on Friday, January 13, 2023. 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 the measurement date.
