Top 10 billionaires in Africa right now and how they made their money

Forbes has released its list of richest persons in Africa for the year 2021. Of the 54 countries African countries, only seven African nations have billionaires and the list did not feature women billionaires.

Per the report, Dangote is worth $12.1 billion, up by $2 billion from last year’s list thanks to a roughly 30% rise in the share price of Dangote Cement, by far his most valuable asset, Forbes wrote. The second richest is Nassef Sawiris of Egypt, whose largest asset is a nearly 6% stake in sportswear maker Adidas.

The biggest gainer on the list is another Nigerian cement tycoon known as Abdulsamad Rabiu. He, together with his son, owns 97% shares of BUA Cement PLC, which listed on the Nigeria Stock Exchange in January 2020. Shares in BUA Cement doubled the past year, pushing his fortune up by an extraordinary 77%, to $5.5 billion.

According to the Forbes list, South Africa and Egypt each have five billionaires, Nigeria has three while Morocco has two. Collectively, the 18 billionaires from Africa are worth $73.8 billion, a little more than the $73.4 billion aggregate worth of the 20 billionaires on last year’s list of Africa’s richest people.

Forbes’s methodology of calculating African billionaires includes those who reside in Africa or have their primary business there. Based on this methodology, the list excluded Sudanese-born billionaire Mo Ibrahim, who is a U.K. citizen and billionaire London resident Mohamed Al-Fayed, an Egyptian citizen.

“We calculated net worths using stock prices and currency exchange rates from the close of business on Friday, January 8, 2021. 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,” according to Forbes.

Below is the list of African billionaires for 2021