Who is the richest man in Africa? That has always been the question that many ask almost every day.

Who is the richest man in Africa? That has always been the question that many ask almost every day.

The story of Africa’s richest men is about men overcoming lots of barriers. While present-day upcoming business people can enjoy conducive environments, thanks to the government’s efforts, this was not the case decades ago.

Men like Aliko Dangote had to contend with the domineering big businesses, messy bureaucracies, and cultural barriers.

That’s what makes their story compelling.

Who Is the Richest Man In Africa

So, who is the richest African man?

Based on Forbes ranking Aliko Dangote is the richest man in Africa with an estimated net worth of $10.6 Billion.

Wouldn’t you want to know more?

Top Ten Richest Men In Africa and Their Net Worth

Here’s a list of the top 10 richest men in Africa below with information on their profile, business investments, and their net worth.

1. Aliko Dangote (Net Worth $10.6 Billion)

Aliko Dangote is a 61-year-old Nigerian entrepreneur. Nigeria is the most populous nation in Africa with 201 million people.

Its GDP is the 31st in the world at $ 447.013 billion. Aliko Dangote’s top naira venture has businesses mainly in Nigeria and some West African Countries.

His net worth was $10.6 billion. This is enough to place him on top of the richest man in Africa list and the richest black person in the world for the 3rd straight year.

The huge Naira investment pf Dangote – Nigeria’s richest man started as a trading company but has since evolved into an industrial refinery dealing in:

• Cement production
• Sugar production and refinery
• Food and beverage production: 70 percent supplier of sugar to the Nigerian market. Additionally, it refines salt, imports, rice, pasta, fertilizer and manufactures noodles and spaghetti.
• Freight services: a transport company that manages a fleet of buses for Nigeria’s Central Bank.
• Telecommunications: a 14000 km fiber optics cable across Nigeria
• Oil, gas real estate and banking

Although he is the richest man in Africa, Aliko Dangote net worth can’t stand with that of the world’s richest men.

2. Johann Rupert ($7.3 Billion Net Worth)

Rupert is the second richest man in Africa. The 68-year-old is a South African native, a country of 58 million people with a 62.5 years life expectancy.

South Africa, has the 35th GDP in the world at $386 billion. Johann Rupert is a third generation African, his father Anton Rupert was a tycoon.

Johann Rupert, $7.3 billion, came mostly from his venture in luxury goods:

• The companies’ stocks have been appreciating by 50 percent each year
• He owns a Swiss-based luxury items company called Richemont and another called Remgro, which is in South Africa.

Through these two luxury goods, he controls brands like Chloe, Montblanc, Alfred Dunhill, Vacheron, Constantin.

• He has some of the best vineyards in South Africa

3. Nicky Oppenheimer and Family (Net Worth $7.3 Billion)

Nicky Oppenheimer is the second richest man in Africa. The 73-year-old came from mining and dealing in diamonds.

His father founded the De Beers, the world’s biggest producer of diamond 1n 1927.

In 2011 Nicky Oppenheimer sold his 40 percent controlling share of De Beers for $5.1 billion ending his stake in the company.

Nicky Oppenheimer is the second richest man in Africa. The 73-year-old came from mining and dealing in diamonds.

His father founded the De Beers, the world’s biggest producer of diamond 1n 1927. In 2011 Nicky Oppenheimer sold his 40 percent controlling share of De Beers for $5.1 billion ending his stake in the company.

His net worth stands at 7.3 billion. He previously chaired the De Beers and deputy chaired the Anglo American, both of which deal in diamonds.

Upon the sale of his stake in De Beers, he made $ 5.1 billion. His other interests are:

• He owns about 1 percent of Anglo American to which he sold his De Beers shares.
• He owns Tswalu Kalahari Reserve, the most prominent South African Private Reserve.
• A $300 million investment through Tana Africa Capital equity venture

Nicky OpenHeimer’s has shown interests in conservation, through his game reserve.

He has pledged and donated lots of funds towards organizations dealing with preservation of southern Africa’s culture and environment.

Also Read: Who are the top 10 tallest men in the world

4. Nassef Onsi Sawaris (Worth $6.8 Billion)

This business, magnate hails from Egypt, a country with 95 million people and $301.056 million GDP, which is the 49th largest in the world.

Nasif heads Orascom Construction Industries which is Egypt’s most expensive listed company.

He is worth $6.8 billion. His investments include;

Construction sector investments: He runs Orascom and has a stake in Lafarge which produces cement. Orascom also produces nitrogen fertilizers.

• He has shares in Adidas
• He has a board seat in Belsix and NNS Holdings

Also Check the height of the world’s tallest women today

5. Mike Adenuga ($5.3 Billion Net Worth)

Like Aliko Dangote he hails from Nigeria with ventures in oil and telecommunication business.

But his story started as a cab driver in the USA where he was studying; he made rose up to own a bank and a telecommunication company.

But during Nigeria’s military regime he lost all these, went to exile before coming back to build everything up again

He is worth $ 5.3 billion, which makes him the 5th richest African man. His stakes include:

• He established and runs Glo, which is Nigeria’s second largest telecommunication services provider with 0ver 100 million subscribers.
• Making his first million distributing Coca-Cola at age 26 years.
• He owns Conoil Plc that deals with oil exploration and mining.

Many of the top richest Nigerian singers say his name; they pray in their music to be as rich as Mike Adenuga and Aliko Dangote.

More On The Richest People In Africa

The list of richest people in Africa continues. By now you know the richest person, and the top 5 wealthiest African men. The 6th on the list is Issad Rebrab.

6. Issad Rebrab ($4 Billion)

He hails from Algeria, a country with 42 million people and $ 200 million in GDP. His company, Cevital, is the largest privately-owned business in Algeria dealing in food production, electronics, and steel.

He is worth $4 billion. He is keen to maintain the business in the family as he has been grooming his five kids to take over. His wealth is from;

• Cevital which deals in sugar production, manufacture of home appliances and electronics, vegetable oil, and other food production.
• Distribution of Hyundai, Samsung, and Europcar in Algeria.
• European ventures; he has been buying European businesses such as Groupe Brandt.

7. Naguib Sawiris ($4 Billion)

His brother is Onsi Sawiris. The 64-year-old Egyptian is worth $ 4 billion.

He oversaw the merger between Orascom Telecom and Russian owned VimpelCom which made Orascom Telecom the 6th largest telecommunication provider in the world.

This merger earned him multi-billions, and he still chairs Orascom Telecom. Naguib other activities include:

• La Mancha Resources Inc which deals in gold exploration and production
• Evolution mining and Golden Star mining which operates in South Africa and Australia respectively.
• He is a politician. In 2011 he joined politics as a vocal opponent to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Also Read: The top ten poorest countries in Africa today

8 Koos Bekker (2.8 Billion)

Koos Bekker is another South African in the top 10 list of the richest man in Africa. His interests are mainly in mass media through Naspers media group.

Naspers has its feet in almost 130 countries. Koos Bekker started at M-Net, which he founded with his colleagues, which was a pay television service.

He went on to launch multichoice which operates DSTV, the most substantial Pay Per View TV subscription platform in Africa.

Then he started a mobile a telecommunication company called MTN. When he later became CEO of Naspers, a small newspaper company, he went ahead to buy all his previous ventures: multichoice, MTN and M-net.

His wealth stands at .8 billion. Naspers has the largest market capitalization. For a company outside the USA and China. It is publicly traded in both the London and Johannesburg Stock Exchanges.

9. Mohamed Mansour ($2.7)

Mr. Mansour is the third Egyptian in the list with an estimated $ 2.7 billion Networth courtesy of a company he inherited from his father and his shrewd investment.

He runs the Mansour Group that has almost 60,000 workers. His investments include:

• General Motors distribution
• He has the rights to distribute Caterpillar equipment’s across Africa
• Metro Supermarket: the largest supermarket chain that has attracted a $300 million offer from billionaire Majid Al Futtaim
• Capital market investments through Man Capital, his private investment firm.

Africa population is equivalent to 16.64% of the total world population and in it, we have lots of professionals striving to become wealthy.

Maybe someday, we’ll have young emerging billionaires in Africa that will join this top list of richest African men.

10. Patrice Motsepe

Of the South African’s in the list, he’s the only black person. The 56-year-old lawyer has stakes in both corporate and non-corporate ventures.

He started as a small investor in 1994; he would buy low producing mines then through his shrewd management style, turn them to profitable investments.

These activities saw him rise from the first black partner at Bowman Gilfillan Law to the country’s richest black person.

He stands at $2.3 billion. His investments include:

• Through his company African Rainbow Minerals, he has amerced about billions exploring and producing platinum, nickel, copper, iron, gold and lots of precious metals.
• Buying shares in Harmony Gold through his ARM
• Buying a stake in Sanlam a financial services firm
• Owning a stake of Mamelodi Sundowns Football Club

There you have the latest list of the richest men in the world, but none of these men have come from any of the richest countries in the world.

The Richest Man In Africa (Summary)

The above-listed men are just some of the richest men in Africa; the face of Africa is changing as the population becomes literate and discovers the vast potential within its boundaries.

With government efforts in creating conducive entrepreneurial environments, it may not be a surprise if an African soon becomes the wealthiest person in the world.

So what did you think of the richest man in the Africa – Aliko Dangote and each of the business tycoons that made it to the list?