President and Chief Executive of Dangote Industries Limited, Aliko Dangote, has again been named Africa’s richest man by Forbes, for the seventt year running.
Dangote networth is put at about $12.2 billion, an increase of $100 million a year ago.
Forbes said: “Dangote is looking beyond cement, his most valuable asset, and has been investing in a fertiliser production company and a large oil refinery. Dangote Fertiliser is expected to start operations in the second quarter this year.”
It would be recalled that Dangote was also recently the only African selected among Bloomberg’s world 50 best persons in the year 2017.
Globacom Chairman, Mike Adenuga, with a net worth of $5.3 billion was adjudged the 5th richest man in Africa while Folorunsho Alakija, also a Nigerian, whose estimated $1.6 billion fortune lies in oil exploration firm, was adjudged as the 15th richest person in Africa.
Number two on the list of African richest people is diamond mining heir, Nicky Oppenheimer, of South Africa, with a net worth of $7.7 billion, up $700 million from last year. Oppenheimer is one of eight South Africans on the list, making it the African country with the most billionaires. Nigeria has just three.
Last year, South Africa and Egypt tied with six billionaires each. Boosting the South African ranks this year: newcomer, Michiel Le Roux, the founder and former chairman of Johannesburg-listed Capitec Bank Holdings, whose stock has climbed more than 50 per cent in the past year, making Le Roux a new billionaire worth $1.2 billion.
South African mining tycoon, Desmond Sacco, chairman of listed Assore Group, returned to the list following a stock price surge of some 60 percent in the past 12 months. Sacco last appeared as a billionaire on the Africa’s Richest list in 2012 with a $1.4 billion fortune.
Meanwhile, Bill Gates maintained his position as the richest person in the world with a net worth of $86 billion, while Warren Buffet and Jeff Bezos were second and third with a networth of $75.6 billion and $72.8 billion respectively.
