20 African Billionaires 2013
Aliko Dangote of Nigeria
This year, a record 1,426 billionaires
made it to FORBES’ annual ranking of the world’s richest people.
African billionaires occupied a
little over 1% of the positions on the list. Here are the 20 Africans who made
the cut:
Aliko Dangote,
$16.1 billion
Nigerian. Sugar, Cement, Flour
Nigerian-born Aliko Dangote retains
his position as Africa’s richest man for the 3rd year in a row. He
is $4.9 billion richer than he was last year on account of the soaring value of
his publicly-listed holdings in Nigerian blue chips like Dangote Cement,
Dangote Sugar, National Salt Company of Nigeria and Zenith Bank among
others. This year, FORBES also accounted for other assets including his
personal portfolio of homes, jets and yacht. Dangote started building his
fortune over three decades ago by trading in commodities like cement, flour and
sugar but became a billionaire by manufacturing these items. Venerable
philanthropist has given away over $100 million to causes in health, education,
flood relief and poverty alleviation.
Johann Rupert & family,
$6.6 billion
South African. Luxury Goods
Johann Rupert is now South Africa’s richest
man. In the month of March, Rupert is expected to step down as CEO of
Swiss-based luxury goods outfit, Compagnie Financiere Richemont, which controls
premium brands such as Vacheron Constantin, Cartier, Alfred Dunhill, Montblanc
and Chloé and which is the source of the bulk of his fortune. Co-CEOs Richard
Lepeu (currently deputy CEO) and Bernard Fornas (currently head of
Cartier) will replace him. Johann Rupert also owns stakes in investment holding
companies Remgro and Reinet.
Nicky Oppenheimer
& family, $6.5 billion
South African. Diamonds
In November 2011, Oppenheimer sold
his family’s 40% stake in De Beers, the world’s largest diamond producer to
mining behemoth Anglo American for $5.1 billion in an all-cash deal that marked
the end of the Oppenheimer family’s age-long control of De Beers, a
relationship that began when Nicky’s grandfather, Ernest Oppenheimer, took over
the firm in 1927. The Oppenheimer family invests through Tana Africa
Capital, a $300 million private equity joint venture with Singapore state
investor Temasek.
Nassef Sawiris, $6.5
billion
Egyptian. Construction
Nassef Sawiris
heads Orascom Construction Industries
(OCI), Egypt’s most valuable publicly-traded company. In January, he announced
that OCI was exchanging all global depositary receipts of the company for newly
issued shares of OCI NV on the NYSE Euronext in Amsterdam. Bill Gates was part
of a consortium of U.S investors who provided $1 billion to help cover payments
to shareholders who prefer to tender their OCI shares for cash.
Mike Adenuga, $4.7
billion
Nigerian. Oil, Telecoms
Reclusive Nigerian billionaire Mike
Adenuga owns Globacom, Nigeria’s second largest mobile phone network. It has 24
million customers in Nigeria and operates in the Republic of Benin. It also
holds licenses in Ghana and the Ivory Coast. Adenuga also owns Conoil
Producing, one of Nigeria’s largest independent exploration companies as
well as a controlling stake in Conoil PLC, a petroleum marketing company.
Christoffel
Wiese, $3.5 billion
South African. Retail
Christoffel Wiese is the chairman and the largest individual shareholder of
African low-price supermarket chain, Shoprite. He also owns a large stake
in discount clothes, shoes and textiles chain Pepkor, where he is executive
chairman. His other assets include Lanzerac Manor & Winery, a
five-star hotel that produces its own wine, a private game reserve in the
Kalahari and a significant shareholding in Brait, a private equity firm.
Nathan Kirsh,
$3.1 billion
Swaziland. Real Estate
Born in Swaziland, Nathan Kirsh derives his fortune from Jetro Holdings, which operates Jetro Cash and
Carry stores and Restaurant Depots in the New York City area. Jetro enjoys a
near monopoly in supplying wholesale goods to small stores and restaurants in
the New York City area. Kirsh is keen on philanthropy and focuses his
philanthropic endeavors on Swaziland. To date, he has supplied more than 10,000
people with start-up capital for small businesses.
Othman
Benjelloun, $3.1 billion
Moroccan. Banking, Insurance
His father was a major shareholder in a small Moroccan insurance company.
Benjelloun took over a small Moroccan insurance company his father owned in
1988 and built it into RMA Watanya, one of Morocco’s largest insurance companies.
He also owns BMCE Bank, a commercial bank which has operations in more than a
dozen countries.
Patrice Motsepe,
$2.9 billion
South African. Mining
Patrice Motsepe is the Chairman of African Rainbow Minerals (ARM), a
publicly-traded mining conglomerate which has interests in platinum, nickel,
chrome, iron, manganese, coal, copper and gold. Other assets include a stake in
Sanlam, a publicly traded financial services company outside Cape Town and
South African football club, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Naguib
Sawiris, $2.5 billion
Egyptian, Telecom
The eldest son of Egyptian billionaire Onsi Sawiris, Naguib has sold off
nearly all his shares in Vimpelcom, the Russian telecom giant which had
acquired the Sawiris family’s Orascom Telecom in a cash and stock deal in 2011.
His Orascom Telecom Media and Technology owns a 75% stake in Koryolink, North
Korea’s only cell network.
Miloud Chaabi,
$2.1 billion
Morocco. Real estate
The second richest man in Morocco sits atop Ynna Holding
Company, which has holdings in hotels, supermarkets and renewable energy.
Chaabi has committed to building a university in Casablanca in
partnership with Indiana State University.
Onsi Sawiris, $2
billion
Egyptian. Diversified
Onsi Sawiris is the legendary patriarch of Egypt’s most powerful business
dynasty. The eponymous Orascom conglomerate, which he helped found, is involved
construction, telecoms and hotels. The companies are all run by his three sons-
Naguib, Samih and Nassef.
Isabel Dos
Santos, $2 billion
Angolan. Investments
The oldest daughter of Angola’s president, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, Isabel
dos Santos owns stakes in several Angolan and Portuguese companies. Her largest
holding is a $1 billion stake in Angolan mobile phone company, Unitel.
Mohamed
Mansour, $2.2 billion
Egyptian. Diversified
With his two brothers, Mohammed Mansour runs the world’s largest GM
dealership. The Mansour Group also owns the largest supermarket chain in
Egypt, the country’s second largest real estate developer, Palm Hills, and the
Philip Morris franchise in Egypt.
Yasseen
Mansour, $1.6 billion
Egypt. Diversified
The youngest of Egypt’s three Mansour brothers, Yasseen derives the bulk of
his fortune from the family business, the largest seller of GM vehicles in the
world. Yasseen is also the chairman of Palm Hills, Egypt’s second largest real
estate developer.
Youssef
Mansour, $2 billion
Egypt. Diversified
The eldest of the Mansour brothers owns stakes in real estate developer Palm
Hills, Egypt’s largest supermarket chain, Metro, and Mansour Group, which is
the largest seller of GM vehicles.
Desmond Sacco,
$1.5 billion
South African. Mining
Sacco’s father, Guido Sacco, ventured into mining in 1928 when he
established Gloucester Manganese Mines. He went on to acquire other mining
assets across South Africa which formed the larger Assore Group. The company
was listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange over 60 years ago. Desmond, a
trained geologist, joined the company in 1968 and was appointed to the group’s
board in 1974. When Guido retired in 1992, Desmond became chairman and managing
director. He is Assore’s single largest shareholder.
Mohamed Al
Fayed, $1.4 billion
Egypt. Retailing
Mohammed Al-Fayed previously owned the Harrod’s department store in London,
which he sold in 2010 to Qatar
Holding for a reported $2.4 billion. He owns the famed Hotel
Ritz in Paris which he closed in August 2012 to start construction on
what will be the hotel’s biggest redo since it was built in 1898. Al Fayed also
owns Fulham Football club and a castle in Scotland.
Anas Sefrioui,
$1.3 billion
Moroccan. Real Estate
In 1998, Anas Sefrioui’s real estate development company, Groupe Addoha, was
awarded a contract to build 20,000 units of government-subsidized housing under
the patronage of Morocco’s late King Hassan II. In 2005, his company won
another $1 billion state contract to build more housing units. Groupe Addoha
went public in 2006 and Sefrioui owns over 60% of the company’s preferred
stock.
Stephen Saad, $1 billion
South African. Pharmaceuticals
Stephen Saad became a millionaire at the age of 29 after he sold his
stake in the drug business Covan Zurich for $3 million. He went on to
co-found Aspen Pharmacare in 1997 which among other things, manufactures
GlaxoSmithKline’s smaller brands. Aspen is now the largest
publicly-traded drug manufacturer on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
Stephen is the largest individual shareholder in Aspen, while
GlaxoSmithKline is the company’s largest institutional shareholder.
Aspen’s share price has soared in the past year, transforming Saad into a
billionaire.
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