African Vibes Magazine’s 2019 African Billionaires List

Another year has come and gone and it seemed like a good year for most African Billionaires. 17 of the 26 billionaires saw an increase in wealth. However, 7 did have a drop in their fortunes while two didn’t see much change at all. South Africa’s Elon Musk maintained the number one spot as the richest African on the list. Musk had the largest wealth jump of the year with an increase of over $6 billion. The most notable reduction was in Aliko Dangote’s wealth which dropped by over 1 billion. 

African Countries represented on the Billionaire list

Egypt and South Africa stayed toe to toe, leading the list with 7 billionaires each. Nigeria added a billionaire while Angola, Algeria, Sudan, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe each had one billionaire on the list.

African Billionaire Age Distribution

There are 3 billionaires in their forties, 6 in their fifties, 7 in their sixties, 7 in their seventies, 2 in their 80s and 1 who turned 90 last year. Africa’s youngest Billionaire is still Mohammed Dewji from Tanzania at Age 44. Isabel Dos Santos remained Africa’s richest woman and the second youngest African billionaire at age 46.

Methodology

The African Billionaires list is a snapshot of wealth taken on January 1, 2020. It is based on the Forbes Real-time billionaire wealth calculator. The calculation is derived from stock prices and exchange rates from around the world used to calculate net worths. Some fortunes change from day to day due to fluctuations in the market.

The list is based on individuals rather than multigenerational families who share large fortunes, though included is wealth belonging to a billionaire’s spouse and children if the current list member is the founder of the fortune. In that case, you’ll see “& family” on the list. Also included, when relevant, are married couples who built fortunes and businesses together.

2019 African Billionaire’s List

Picture	African Rank	Forbes Rank	Name	Net Worth	Age	Wealth Source	Hometown/ Residence
	1	#36	Elon Musk	$27.5 B ▲	48	Tesla Motors	South Africa / United States
	2	#195	Aliko Dangote	$8.7 B ▼	62	Self Made, cement, sugar, flour	Nigeria
	2	#197	Mike Adenuga	$8.7 B –	66	Telecom, Oil	Nigeria
	3	#227	Nassef Sawiris	$7.9 B ▲	58	Construction, Chemicals	Egypt
	4	#239	Nicky Oppenheimer	$7.7 B ▲	74	Diamonds	South Africa
	5	#280	Patrick Soon-Shiong	$6.9 B ▲	66	Pharmaceuticals	South Africa / United States
	6	#310	Johann Rupert	$6.5 B ▲	69	Luxury goods	South Africa
	7	#386	Nathan Kirsh	$4.9 B ▲	87	Retail, Real estate	Swaziland
	8	#606	Issad Rebrab	$3.9 B ▲	75	Food	Algeria
	9	#761	Mohamed Mansour	$3.3 B ▲	71	Diversified	Egypt
	10	#833	Naguib Sawiris	$3 B ▼	65	Telecom	Egypt
	11	#900	Haim Saban	$2.9 B ▲	75	TV network, Investments	Egypt / United States
	12	#991	Patrice Motsepe	$2.6 B ▲	57	Mining	South Africa
	13	#1030	Strive Masiyiwa	2.5 B ▲	58	Telecom	Zimbabwe
	14	#1047	Koos Bekker	$2.4 B ▲	67	Media, Investments	South Africa
	15	#1125	Yasseen Mansour	$2.3 B ▲	58	Diversified	Egypt
	16	#1165	Isabel dos Santos	$2.2 B –	46	Investments	Angola
	17	#1331	Mohammed Dewji	$1.9 B ▲	44	Diversified	Tanzania
	17	#1376	Youssef Mansour	$1.9 B ▲	74	Self Made, diversified	Egypt
	18	#1454	Aziz Akhannouch	$1.8 B ▼	59	Petroleum, Diversified	Morocco
	18	#1456	Othman Benjelloun	$1.8 B ▲	87	Banking, Insurance	Morocco
	19	#1633	Mohamed Al Fayed	$1.5 B ▼	90	Retail, Investments	Egypt
	19	#1653	Abdulsamad Rabiu	$1.5 B ▼	59	cement, sugar	Nigeria
	20	#1845	Michiel Le Roux	$1.3 B ▲	70	banking	South Africa
	21	#2032	Mohammed Ibrahim	$1.1 B ▼	73	Communications	Sudan / United Kingdom
	21	#2119	Folorunsho Alakija	$1.1 B ▼	69	Oil	Nigeria