Africa’s rich & famous and how they made their money
There are a lot of really interesting things about the remarkable continent of Africa. From the natural beauty and resources to the different cultures and all they have to offer, Africa is truly amazing. What people might not have realized about Africa is that it also has its share of billionaires and millionaires.
These charismatic, wealthy individuals have their own unique backstories and ways they obtained their riches. The richest Africans in the world run businesses operating in many different industries.
These industries include textiles, food production, agriculture, diamonds, communication, and more. Diversification and investments also have helped generate a lot of wealth. Click through to see the world’s wealthiest Africans.
Aliko Dangote
Dangote Group
Net Worth: $14.1bn
Country: Nigeria
A list of Africa’s richest would not be possible without Aliko Dangote. His net worth is $14.1 billion, making him the richest man on the continent. Aliko was born in Kano, Nigeria.
He owns the Dangote Group. The Dangote Group owns stakes in many different industries. What really helped Dangote get his start was cement.
Aliko owns Dangote Cement, which is Africa’s largest producer of cement, making more than 44 million tons of cement annually. The Dangote Group has stakes in sugar, flour, and salt manufacturing companies as well, giving it a diversification edge.
Mike Adenuga
Globacom
Net Worth: $4.2bn
Country: Nigeria
Born in Idaban, Nigeria, Mike Adenuga has a net worth of $4.2 billion. He owns the company Globacom. Globacom is the second-largest telecommunication provider in Nigeria.
In addition to owning Globacom, Adenuga also has stakes in several ventures. He owns investments in the Equitorial Trust Bank and Conoil. Conoil is an oil exploration firm that has proven to be very lucrative for Adenuga.
He got his first oil drill in 1990, and, just one year later, he struck oil. Adenuga’s company was the first indigenous drilling company to achieve this.
Issad Rebrab
Cevital
Net Worth: $3.2bn
Country: Algeria
With a net worth of $3.2 billion, Issad Rebrab resides in the same country in which he was born: Algeria. The Algerian businessman founded Cevital, which is Algeria’s largest privately-owned company.
Rebrab founded Cevital in 1998. From there, it has expanded into tons of different industries. Rebrab’s company owns stakes in agriculture, food sectors, retail sectors, and services related to those industries.
Cevital didn’t just stop there. It has several subsidiaries as well, including EXAGON SAS, Alas Iberia, SLU, Ness-Prod, and more. Rebrab may have gotten his start in food production, but his businesses have expanded far beyond that.
Isabel dos Santos
Multiple Investments
Net Worth: $2.1bn
Country: Angola
Isabel dos Santos is Africa’s richest woman. She is worth $2.1 billion. Born in Azerbaijan during the Soviet Union era, her father was the Angolan president Jose Santos. Isabel is highly-educated, receiving a degree in electrical engineering at King’s College in England.
Isabel has achieved her billionaire-status through her investments in Angolan companies. Isabel is the head of several investment companies that not only have stakes in oil and diamonds, but also in media, finance, retail, telecommunications, and energy.
She’s one of the world’s foremost businesspeople to date, and her wealth can attest to that.
Patrice Motsepe
African Rainbow Minerals
Net Worth: $2bn
Country: South Africa
Patrice Motsepe founded and chairs African Rainbow Minerals. African Rainbow Minerals has stakes in gold, platinum, ferrous metals, and base metals.
The mineral giant started out as a law partner in the firm Bowman Gilfillan. After that, he founded his first mining company, which contracted to siphon gold dust from mine shafts. His purchase of gold mines in 1997 (after gold prices sank drastically) paid off in the future, and he was able to use that money to start African Rainbow Minerals.
Recently, he pledged to donate $250 million to helping institute South African land reform. Motsepe’s net worth is two billion.
Aziz Akhannouch
Akwa Group
Net Worth: $2bn
Country: Morocco
Aziz Akhannouch has a net worth of two billion. This father-of-three has an MBA from the University of Sherbrooke. A Moroccan citizen, Akhannouch is the majority owner of an investment company called Akwa Group.
Akwa Group invests in oil, petroleum, chemicals, and gas. Its investments primarily reside with Afriquia Gaz and Maghreb Oxygene. Aziz’s father founded the Akwa Group, and it has grown to become a multi-billion-dollar company.
He is Africa’s twelfth-richest man. Aziz’s wife, Salwa, owns her own company as well. Her company has investments in Gap, Zara, and Galeries Lafayette franchises in Morocco.
Folorunsho Alakija
Rose of Sharon Group / Famfa Oil
Net Worth: $1.5bn
Country: Nigeria
Folorunsho is a powerhouse Nigerian businesswoman. She is Africa’s second-richest woman. Her net worth is $1.5 billion, and Forbes Magazine titled her the 67th Most Powerful Woman in the World.
Early in her career, she worked as a secretary. Then, she transferred into the banking and fashion industry, traveling all around the world. Before that, she received her education in the United Kingdom.
Alakija continued her upward climb and now is the managing director of the Rose of Sharon Group and executive VP of Famfa Oil. Alakija has worked hard for every single thing she has, and she is well-deserving of her membership on the World’s Most Powerful Women list.
Mohammed Dewji
MeTL Group
Net Worth: $1.5bn
Country: Tanzania
Mohammed Dewji is a businessman of Tanzanian nationality. He belongs to the CCM political party in Tanzania. Mohammed Dewji is of distant Indian descent. His family traveled from India in the 1800s and became traders in East Africa.
Mr. Dewji chairs MeTL Group, a conglomerate in Tanzania that his father originally founded. MeTL Group is composed of loss-making companies. Tanzania privatized these companies in the early 2000s.
Dewji, who was the CFO of MeTL at the time, bought these newly-private company for cheap, adding them to the MeTL empire. MeTL makes up for 3.5% of Tanzania’s total gross domestic product. Dewji’s net worth is $1.5 billion.
Johann Rupert
Richemont / Remgro
Net Worth: $5.5bn
Country: South Africa
Johann Rupert’s net worth is $5.5 billion. The South African investor chairs a luxury-goods company based in Switzerland. The company, Richemont, is worth more than six billion dollars. He is also the chair of Remgro, another South African company specializing in investments.
Rupert dropped out of college, where he was studying economics, in favor of business. He then entered the banking industry and his career took off.
Rupert is well-known for being reluctant to go to public events and do interviews. His nickname is “Rupert the Bear” for his uncanny prediction of the 2008 economic crisis.
Nicky Oppenheimer
De Beers
Net Worth: $7.6bn
Country: South Africa
Nicky Oppenheimer is worth $7.6 billion. The South African businessman used to chair De Beers mining company (which mined diamonds). He also was the chair of De Beers’ subsidiary, Diamond Trading Company and Anglo American.
Educated at Oxford, Oppenheimer retired from the diamond industry in 2012 after nearly three decades in the diamond industry. The family’s stake sold to Anglo American, and he became more focused on philanthropy.
His philanthropic causes are environmental. He works to sustain development in Africa and established the Diamond Route land conservation plan, which protects African lands.
Femi Otedola
Zenon / Forte Oil PLC
Net Worth: $550M
Country: Nigeria
Femi Otedola is worth $550 million. Born in Nigeria, Femi Otedola is a father of four. His main industries are fuel and gas. He currently chairs the Forte Oil PLC, a company that imports fuel products.
Mr. Otedola founded Zenon Petroleum and Gas Limited. However, oil and gas aren’t his only industries. He also owns smaller companies in the real estate, finance, and shipping sectors. His father is the late governor of Lagos.
Otedola himself has recently announced plans to run for governor of Lagos in the near future. He’s also a major philanthropist, donating six million dollars to build a new structure at Augustine University.
Ronald Karauri
SportPesa
Net Worth: Unknown
Country: Kenya
Ronald Karauri is the CEO of SportPesa. SportPesa is a major betting firm that is extremely popular in Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Uganda, and the UK. Karauri owns a 6% stake in SportPesa which is a multi-billion dollar company. He’s one of the top three SportPesa investors in Kenya.
Karauri was born in Kenya, and he had a hard time during childhood, as he went to boarding school and had a difficult time adjusting. After he became a basketball player for the school, the adjustment became easier.
He then went to college for mechanical engineering before becoming a pilot. Eventually, he wound up at SportPesa after his appointment as CEO. His net worth is in the millions.
Mohammed Hamid
Aya Group
Net Worth: $400M
Country: Uganda
Mohammed Hamid was born in Sudan. He traveled to Uganda when he was a child to visit his older brother, and he decided to stay.
Mohammed Hamid started his first company, called Pan Afric Commodities. This trading business went well, and Hamid expanded, purchasing machinery to expand into milling wheat. He chose yet another industry to venture into when he started a trucking business. He started a company known as Aya Investments.
All of these ventures across different industries have paid off for Hamid. In 2017, Hamid launched the Pearl of Africa in Uganda, a 5-star hotel worth more than $150 million in investments.
Niyi Makanjuola
Caverton Offshore
Net Worth: Unknown
Country: Nigeria
Adeniyi (Niyi) Makanjuola is a young Nigerian billionaire who is anything but conventional. He is only in his thirties, yet he has founded many businesses and worked in many industries.
He has worked in the oil and gas, aviation, financial, environmental, and energy sectors. Makanjuola started the company Caverton Helicopters. Caverton charters helicopters and provides maintenance for them.
The young Nigerian also started Raven Resources Group, and he sits on the Nigeran board for Visionscape. Raven Resources Group is one of the largest petroleum product producers in Africa today. Niyi Makanjuola’s age hasn’t stopped him from accumulating a massive fortune.
Kevin Okyere
Springfield Group
Net Worth: Unknown
Country: Ghana
Kevin Okyere is only 38-years-old, and he has made himself into a tycoon. Okyere developed the Springfield Group, which works in Ghanaian offshore drilling. Springfield Group is an energy conglomerate.
It covers over 600 square kilometers in the Tano Basin. Okyere’s company is the first Ghanaian company to explore offshore for oil. Okyere has continued to invest in his company, putting in seventy million dollars to continue to fund the project.
The company is worth more than one billion dollars. Springfield employees over 100 people throughout Ghana and Nigeria. The energy conglomerate continues to bring in high revenues, year after year.
Byaruhanga Kimberly Junior
Net worth: $2.1m
Country: South Africa
Byaruhanga Kimberly Junior founded JK Diamond Impex Pty. This company, as the name might suggest, has interests in a ton of different sectors involving gold, ferrous metals, and base metals. Kimberly Junior also has interests in oil and platinum African mining projects.
The South African tycoon also chairs Continental Projects Africa Pty. This company, along with AfriOIL, has interests in oil. Kimberly Jr. has managed to chair and head these companies simultaneously, boosting each’s income.
He also wants to build up his fellow young entrepreneurs. He is the chair of the African Young Innovators Association. These publicly-traded companies continue to grow, as does Kimberly Jr.’s fortune.
Koos Bekker
Koos Bekker is a name with which many people knowledgeable about business are familiar. Bekker chairs the media group Naspers. Naspers is a multimedia giant that operates in more than one-hundred-thirty countries.
Naspers is one of the largest companies in the world, with only China and the U.S. leading the market capitalization. Bekker has his degree in law, as well as in literature, from a South African college. Bekker’s net worth has grown alongside Naspers’.
Naspers’ net worth started at $1.2 billion and has soared to $45 billion. The reason it’s become so successful is because Bekkers expanded its investments into pay TV, mobile phones, and other internet services.
Strive Masiyiwa
Econet
Net worth: $3.6b
Country: Zimbabwe
Born in Zimbabwe, Strive Masiyiwa has a degree from Wales. He specialized in electrical engineering. He now is the founder and chairperson of Econet Wireless, a lucrative communications group.
Not only is he the head of Econet, he also sits on various boards concerning communication and philanthropy. His board positions include The Rockefeller Foundation, the Africa Progress Panel, The African Union’s EBOLA Fund, and more.
Masiyiwa has a reputation for philanthropy and generousness. He also sits on two Advisory Panels at the United Nations. He also represents Africa on the Committee on Conscience for the Holocaust Memorial Museum in America.
Othman Benjelloun
BMCE Bank of Africa
Net worth: $1.5b
Country: Morocco
Othman Benjelloun is a Moroccan businessman who is a member of the World Union of Arab Bankers. Benjelloun is the thirteenth-richest man in Africa and the third-richest man in Morocco and his fortune comes from banking.
Benjelloun’s market capitalization profit at his bank is around $4 billion, and his personal fortune is around half of that. Benjelloun heads the BMCE Bank. The BMCE Bank operates in twelve countries. It owes its expansion to its purchase of the Bank of Africa, which is based in Mali.
Benjelloun is Swiss-educated, with a degree in electrical engineering. He has two kids with the daughter of a Moroccan general, General Mohamed Meziane. He has been married to his wife, Leila, for fifty-eight years.
Michiel le Roux
Capitec Bank
Net worth: $1.2b
Country: South Africa
Michiel le Roux is another name on this list with which business-savvy people in Africa are likely familiar. Le Roux founded Capitec Bank in 2001 and he owns eleven percent of Capitec.
The South African is still a member of the Capitec Board, and he chaired the board from 2007 to 2016. Before running Capitec, le Roux was in charge of Boland Bank. Boland was just a small enterprise in Cape Town.
Le Roux definitely counts as self-made, as he ascended from that small bank to run a huge monolith like Capitec. His bank seeks to build up the middle class in Africa.
Jim Ovia
Zenith Bank
Net worth: $980m
Country: Nigeria
Jim Ovia is the founder of Zenith Bank, which he started in 1990. Ovia hails from Nigeria, though he was educated in the States. He received an MBA from the University of Louisiana.
Ovia holds a B.S. degree from Southern University, a school also located in Louisiana. Mr Ovia also attended Harvard Business School, in Massachusetts. Zenith Bank is not the only business he founded. He also started Visafone Communications.
He chairs the Nigerian Software Development Initiative, as well as NITAC, the National Information Technology Advisory Council. Ovia is also a major philanthropist, donating millions to youth organizations.
Abdulsamad Rabiu
BUA Group
Net worth: $1.1b
Country: Nigeria
Abdulsamad Rabiu is a Nigerian business magnate with a net worth surpassing one billion U.S. dollars. He founded BUA Group, which is a conglomerate based in Nigeria. BUA Group has investments in many sectors, including infrastructure, manufacturing, and agriculture.
The revenue from BUA Group is around $2.5 billion per year. Rabiu was born in Kano, Nigeria, and he received an education from Capital University in the States.
He founded BUA solely for trading in commodities, but then BUA acquired an oil company. BUA is also noteworthy for breaking up a sugar monopoly in Nigeria. Cement has been BUA’s latest acquisition.
Mo Ibrahim
Celtel
Net worth: $1.8b
Country: Sudan
Mohammed Ibrahim’s nickname is “Mo,” and he was born in Sudan. The Sudanese billionaire founded Celtel, a major cellphone company in Africa. Celtel has subscribers in fourteen countries in Africa. The last count for subscribers reached 24 million people.
Prior to founding his own company, Mo worked for smaller businesses to learn the ropes. Mo is very interested in charity and ethical government. He founded the Mo Ibrahim Foundation to encourage transparent government.
He ranks countries’ governments by the Mo Ibrahim Index, which measures their transparency and ethics. Mo pledged more than half of his fortune to charity after he joined The Giving Pledge with other wealthy Africans.
Nathan Kirsch
Kirsch Holdings Group
Net worth: $4.5b
Country: South Africa
Nathan Kirsch’s massive net worth of more than four billion U.S. dollars came from property development. He founded the eponymous Kirsch Holdings Group. Kirsch Holdings Group partnered with Sanlam, a financial services group in South Africa, for property development purposes.
Unfortunately, the partnership went south. So, the South African billionaire then set his sights on Swaziland. He owns Swaza Plaza Properties, which is a partnership with the Swaziland government for land development.
Kirsch also owns Ki Corporation, in Liberia, and Mira Mag, a security company. From those holdings come many subsidiaries in a variety of different industries.
Allan Gray
Allan Gray Investment Management
Net worth: $1.57b
Country: South Africa
Allan Gray was born in South Africa in the city of East London. He got a degree in accounting from Rhodes University before getting an MBA from Harvard University. Gray first worked in asset management when he worked for Fidelity in Boston, Massachusetts, a U.S. city.
Then, he founded Orbis Investment Ltd. in London. Orbis mainly focused on international investment markets. It made revenues in the billions. With that success, Gray went on to found Allan Gray Investment Management.
This firm is a private investment firm handling more than $35 billion in capital from their many clients. Gray also is philanthropic, founding the Allan Gray Foundation to help South African students.
Dr. Mamphela Ramphele
Agang South Africa
Net worth: $4m
Country: South Africa
Dr. Mamphela Ramphele is an extremely accomplished woman. She is a politician who founded Agang South Africa. Dr. Ramphele was also a majorly influential activist against apartheid.
She is a medical doctor as well, and she is also involved as the vice chancellor of the University of Cape Town in South Africa. Dr. Ramphele was born in the Bochum District of Transvaal, South Africa. Her mother and father were both primary school teachers.
It was in 1955, after witnessing a racist altercation between an Afrikaner minister and Kranspoort villagers, that Dr. Ramphele decided to go into politics.
Bridgette Radebe
Mmakau Mining Ltd.
Net worth: $71m
Country: South Africa
Bridgette Radebe was born in February 1960. Radebe was a miner during the 1980s. She started out as a manager of individual mining operations. Radebe worked her way up the ladder to where she was managing larger projects in South Africa.
Radebe used this experience to start Mmakau Mining Ltd. Mmakau Mining Ltd. is an exploration firm that produces precious metals such as gold, chrome, and platinum.
Radebe is an activist against the capitalist mining model, which she says exploits Africa. Her company is an ethical mining company that contributes to African cities and towns.
Arthur Eze
Atlas Oranto Petroleum
Net worth: $5.8B
Country: Nigeria
Arthur Eze is one of the richest men in Africa. He is a philanthropist and business-owner. Eze received his secondary school education in Nkwere, Nigeria. From there, he progressed to higher learning.
Eze obtained a degree in mechanical and chemical engineering from California State University in Long Beach, California. After attending CSU Long Beach from 1974 to 1978, Eze decided to go into business.
He founded Atlas Oranto Petroleum. The company has assets in many different African countries. In one year, Eze managed to sell $200 million in oil blocks in just one country (Libya).
Dr. Judy Dlamini
Mbekani Investment Holdings, Ltd.
Net worth: $8.9m
Country: South Africa
Dr. Judy Dlamini is a doctor who also has, in addition to her PhD, an MBA in business leadership. Dr. Dlamini was born in 1959. Her parents emphasized to her that education was the best tool for escaping poverty, and Dr. Dlamini listened to that advice.
In addition to her medical degree, she founded the business Mbekani Investment Holdings, Ltd. Mbekani Group has tons of investments in many different sectors. The sectors include surgical instruments, pharmaceuticals, property facilities and management, fashion retail, and tourism.
Dr. Dlamini learned the value of investing from her father, who invested in small pieces of property.
Cletus Ibeto
The Ibeto Group
Net worth: $3.7b
Country: Nigeria
Cletus Ibeto was born in the city of Nnewi, an industrial city in Nigeria. Ibeto began his career as an imports dealer. He became a spare parts dealer after his experience as an apprentice in the auto parts industry.
Ibeto founded The Ibeto Group, which became a huge spare auto parts manufacturer. Its first plant was in Nnewi. From there, Ibeto established a petrochemicals sector of his company, as well as a cement sector wing.
The Ibeto Cement Co. Ltd. just underwent a “reverse merger” with the U.S. company Century Petroleum Corp. Ibeto now owns 70% of Century Corp.