Together, Africa’s wealthiest billionaires made an estimated net worth of $81.8 billion over the past year, a $3.1 billion decline from the previous year, which stood at $84.9. According to Forbes Africa, the 3.6% drop follows a 15% increase last year on the strength of increasing stock values from Nigeria to Zimbabwe.
Despite the marginal decline in the net worth of the continent’s wealthiest persons, the number of billionaires increased from 18 to 19.
Alike Dangote maintained his position as Africa’s richest man though his net worth dropped to $13.5 billion after a loss of $400 million. South African luxury goods magnate, Johann Rupert, came in second with a net worth of $10.7 billion, down from $11 billion in 2022. The number three spot was occupied by South African, Nicky Oppenheimer (net worth $8.4 billion), who formerly ran diamond mining firm, DeBeers.
Meanwhile, this year’s ranking saw the return of South Africa’s Christoffel Wiese, who lands at No. 18 with an estimated net worth of $1.1 billion. He was worth $5.7 billion in 2015. However, he lost his billionaire status two years ago following an accounting scandal that cratered Steinhoff’s stock.
“He sued, and in March 2022, collected 7 billion South African rands (about $400 million) in cash and shares from Steinhoff, totaling about 5% of publicly traded Pepkor,” Forbes reported.
Explaining its methodology, Forbes Africa explained that it excluded Sudanese-born billionaire Mo Ibrahim because he is a U.K. citizen. The platform also excluded “South African Natie Kirsh, who operates out of London, and another billionaire London resident, Mohamed Al-Fayed, an Egyptian citizen.”
“Net worths were calculated using stock prices and currency exchange rates from the close of business on Friday, January 13, 2023,” Forbes explained. “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.”
Below are the top 10 wealthiest Africans
