Finance: Aliko Dangote is Africa’s richest man for 2018, as Econet’s founder joins the billionaires' club

Aliko Dangote of Nigeria has been the richest person in Africa for the seventh year in a row.

Alhaji Aliko Dangote of Nigeria has retained his title of Africa’s richest man based on a recent publication by Forbes magazine. This is the seventh time in a roll Dangote will be declared the richest Blackman.

According to Forbes, Aliko remains at the top of the list with a total assets worth of $12.2billion. This is over $100 million in his wealth when compared with 2017. More so, this increase is inched on the rise of his companies' share price on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

In 2018, there are 23 billionaires in Africa as against 21 estimated for 2017. Within the year, Africa has produced some new billionaires - Micheil Le Roux, Strive Masiyiwa and Desmond Sacco.

 

A South African, Nicky Oppenheimer is the second richest man in Africa with a net worth of $7.7 billion. Nicky’s wealth had appreciated by $700 million when compared with 2017.

There are only two women on the list – Isabel Dos Santos of Angola and Folorunsho Alakija of Nigeria.

Others on the list are Johann Rupert, Nassef Sawiris, Mike Adenuga, Issad Rebrab, Naguib Sawiris, Koos Bekker, Mohammed Mansour, Patrice Motsepe, Aziz Akhannouch, Yasseen Mansour, Othman Benjelloun, Mohammed Dewji, Youssef Mansour, Stephen Saad, Onsi Sawiris and Christoffel Wiese.

These 23 African billionaires are from 8 countries and most of them are South Africans. The list has 8 from South Africa, 6 from Egypt, 3 from Nigeria, 2 from Morocco and one member each from Algeria, Angola, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.

Also Read: How Aliko Dangote made $350 million in one day

Meet the new billionaires in Africa

There are 3 new African billionaires as shown by the 2018 Forbes' list of billionaires on the continent. Two of these individuals (Micheil Le Roux & Desmond Sacco) are South Africans and Strive Masiyiwa is a Zimbabwean.

For Strive Masiyiwa, his massive investments in telecommunication and media sectors in Africa for 2017 led to rise in his wealth. His total worth increased to $1.7 billion from $600 million in 2014.

Also, Desmond Sacco's worth soar due to increase in commodity prices especially Diamond and Gold. His net worth increased from $680 million in 2014 to $1.1 billion in 2018.

Micheil Le Roux made his wealth from his massive investments in the South African banking sector. His net worth increased by over 100% (from $530 million to $1.2 billion) between November 2015 and January 2018.

 

Aliko Dangote of Nigeria has been the richest person in Africa for the seventh year in a row. Read Full Story