In the part of Africa’s richest individuals, SonkoNews shared the top five richest individuals in Africa and how they built their wealth.
SonkoNews analyzed a list shared by Forbes which ranked Aliko Dangote as Africa’s richest individual followed by Johann Rupert and Family.
Nicky Oppenheimer came in third followed by Abdulsamad Rabiu and then finally Nassef Sawiris.
In this feature, SonkoNews details the story of other billionaires and how they built their wealth. They are all in the top 10 list released by Forbes.
Mike Adenuga
Mike Adenuga is the sixth richest person in Africa with a net worth of USD 6.3 billion as revealed by Forbes.
He is Nigeria’s second richest man, and built his fortune in telecom and oil production.
Adenuga mobile phone network, Globacom, is the third largest operator in Nigeria, with 55 million subscribers.
His oil exploration outfit, Conoil Producing, operates 6 oil blocks in the Niger Delta.
Adenuga got an MBA at Pace University in New York, supporting himself as a student by working as a taxi driver.
He made his first million at age 26 selling lace and distributing soft drinks.
Issad Rebrab & family
Rebrab is the seventh wealthiest person on the continent with a net worth of USD 4.6 billion.
He founded Cevital and served as its CEO for more than 50 years. In July 2022, he named his son as his successor.
Cevital, Algeria’s biggest privately-held company, owns one of the largest sugar refineries in the world, with the capacity to produce 2 million tons a year.
The firm owns European companies, including French home appliances maker Groupe Brandt, an Italian steel mill, and a German water purification company.
After serving 8 months in jail on charges of corruption, Rebrab was released on January 1, 2020.
Naguib Sawiris
Naguib Sawiris has a real-time net worth of USD 3.3 billion. He is the eighth richest individual on the continent.
His brother Nassef is also a billionaire and the fifth wealthiest individual on the continent. They control massive wealth in Egypt.
Naguib built a fortune in telecom, selling Orascom Telecom in 2011 to Russian telecom firm VimpelCom (now Veon) in a multibillion-dollar transaction.
He’s chairman of Orascom TMT Investments, which has stakes in an asset manager in Egypt and Italian internet company Italiaonline, among others.
Through his Media Globe Holdings, Sawiris owns 88 per cent of pan-European pay TV and video news networks Euronews.
He also developed a luxury resort called Silversands on the Caribbean island of Grenada.
Patrice Motsepe
In January, Forbes placed Motsepe’s net worth at USD 3.2 billion. However real-time wealth shows that his fortunes stand at USD 2.2 billion.
He is the current Confederation of African Football (CAF) President.
He is the founder and chairman of African Rainbow Minerals, and became a billionaire in 2008 – the first black African on the Forbes list.
In 2016, he launched a private equity firm, African Rainbow Capital, focused on investing in Africa.
Motsepe also has a stake in Sanlam, a listed financial services firm, and is the president and owner of the Mamelodi Sundowns Football Club.
In March 2021, Motsepe was elected president of the Confederation of African Football, the sport’s governing body on the continent.
In 1994, he became the first black partner at law firm Bowman Gilfillan in Johannesburg and then started a mining services contracting business.
In 1997, he bought low-producing gold mine shafts and later turned them profitable.
Mohamed Mansour
In January Mansour’s net worth stood at USD 2.9 billion but he has gained over time to hit USD 3.6 billion.
Mansour oversees the family conglomerate Mansour Group, which was founded by his father Loutfy (d. 1976) in 1952 and has 60,000 employees.
He established General Motors dealerships in Egypt in 1975, later becoming one of GM’s biggest distributors worldwide.
Mansour Group also has exclusive distribution rights for Caterpillar equipment in Egypt and seven other African countries.
The businessman, who has both Egyptian and U.K. citizenship, served as Egypt’s minister of transportation from 2006 to 2009 under the Hosni Mubarak regime.
His brothers Yasseen and Youssef, who share ownership in the family group, are also billionaires; his son Loutfy heads private equity arm Man Capital.
