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Forbes Africa Billionaires List 2019: Aliko Dangote Retains Top Position For Eighth Consecutive Time
Dangote retains his position as Africa’s richest man
The Forbes Africa Billionaires 2019 list is finally out with Aliko Dangote, the President of the Dangote Group, retaining his position as Africa’s richest man.
Despite Dangote’s wealth dropping by $2bn from $12.2bn in January 2018 to $10bn in 2019, he continued to be at the top of Forbes Africa Billionaires 2019 list for the eighth consecutive time. The drop in Dangote’s wealth was attributed to a roughly 20 percent drop in the stock price of Dangote Cement between January 2018 to January 4, 2019.
Making it to the second position on the continent’s top billionaires list is Mike Adenuga who is the Chairman of Globacom. Adenuga’s net worth dramatically increased from $5.3bn to $9.2bn after he provided more detailed information about his assets, according to Forbes.
South Africa based diamond heir Nicky Oppenheimer followed in at the third spot. Nicky’s grandfather founded diamond mining firm DeBeers, which he ran and then eventually sold to mining giant Anglo American for $5.1 billion cash in 2012. Nicky’s current net worth stands at an estimated $7.3 billion, down from $7.7 billion a year ago.
The two women who made it to the top 20 Forbes Africa Billionaires 2019 list are Isabel dos Santos, the daughter of Angola’s former president, Jose Eduardo dos Santos and Folorunsho Alakija of Nigeria.
As per ranking per country, Egypt and South Africa are tied with five billionaires each, followed by Nigeria with four, Morocco with two and Algeria, Angola, Tanzania and Zimbabwe with one billionaire each.
“Buffeted by plunging stock prices and weaker currencies, the number of African billionaires has shrunk to just 20, down from 23 a year ago,” the Forbes report read. “Four people fell off Forbes’ annual list of the continent’s richest since last year while one returned to the ranks after a four-year absence. All but four members of the list have smaller fortunes than a year ago.”
You can check out the complete Forbes Africa Billionaires 2019 list here.
