Three Nigerian billionaires have been ranked among the 23 richest persons in Africa by U.S based business magazine Forbes.
Three Nigerian billionaires have been ranked among the 23 richest persons in Africa by U.S based business magazine Forbes.
Cement king, Alhaji Aliko Dangote occupies the first position with a net worth of $12.2 billion. This is his seventh year in a row. The 60-year old billionaire owns nearly 88 percent of Dangote Cement through a holding company.
His Dangote Sugar closed the year with a 227 percent return making it the best performing stock on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. The billionaire industrialist is also near completion of a $12 billion 650,000 barrels per day oil refinery which will make him the largest train refiner of petroleum in the world.
Telecom don, Mike Adenuga came in 5th on the ranking with a net worth of $5.3 billion. The Globacom CEO is currently in a bid for embattled 9Mobile and has been tipped as winner by unconfirmed reports. If this does happen, Globacom would be neck and neck with MTN for the title of the largest telecoms company in Nigeria.
Famfa Oil owner, and the second woman on the whole list, Folorunsho Alakija took the 15th position with a net worth of $1.6 billion. Famfa Oil, is a Nigerian oil exploration company with stake in a prolific offshore asset Agbami oil field.
In all, there were 21 men and only 2 women. The 23 billionaires on the list come from 8 countries. South Africa tops with 8 billionaires on the list. Egypt follows with 6. Nigeria has 3, Morrocco 2 and one each from Algeria, Angola, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.
The net worth of Forbes Africa’s richest list also rose from $70 billion at the beginning of last year to $75.4 billion, now. Thanks to rising stock markets.