Nigeria’s Aliko Dangote Remains Africa’s Richest Man as No Kenyan Makes it to the Forbes Magazine List

Nigerian billionaire, Aliko Dangote has retained his crown as Africa’s richest man even as no Kenyan made it to the top 20 list released by Forbes Magazine.

The continent’s rich list features individuals from eight African countries who are worth more than $1 billion. 

The United States magazine says that as at January 11th, 2019, 61-year-old Dangote was worth $9.9 billion with much of his wealth coming from cement business.

“Dangote Cement produces 44 million metric tons annually and plans to increase its output by 33% by 2020. Dangote also owns stakes in publicly-traded salt, sugar, and flour manufacturing companies,” Forbes says.

Nigerian oil magnate Mike Adenuga is the second wealthiest person in the continent with a fortune of $9.2 billion followed by Nicky Oppenheimer of South Africa ($7.3 billion), Egyptian Nassef Sawiris ($6.3 billion) while Johan Rupert of South Africa completes the top five list with an estimated wealth of $5.3 billion.

Algerian Issad Rebrab ($3.7 billion) is the sixth wealthiest person in Africa followed by Egypt’s Naguib Sawiris ($2.9 billion) while position eight is held by Koos Bekker (South Africa), Isabel dos Santos (Angola), Mohamed Mansour (Egypt), Strive Masiyiwa (Zimbabwe) and Patrice Motsepe (South Africa), all worth $2.3 billion.

Isabel Dos Santos, daughter to former Angolan president Jose Eduardo Dos Santos and Folorunsho Alakija of Nigeria are the only women in the 20-person list.