Dangote Regains Africa’s Richest Man in Forbes List, as Adenuga, Rabiu, Otedola make Top 20

The President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote has regained his position as the richest person in Africa with a net worth of $13.9bn, in the 2024 Forbes list of 20 of Africa’s richest billionaires released on Monday.

South African business mogul, Johann Rupert had initially displaced Dangote to the second position according to an earlier Forbes record, but Dangote rebounded back to claim first place.

Forbes stated that “the fortunes of Africa’s wealthiest people rebounded slightly in the past 12 months, reversing the decline in their fortunes from a year ago, though they were still off their all-time highs. The 20 billionaires on the 2024 Forbes list of Africa’s Richest are worth a combined $82.4bn. That’s up $900m from last year’s $81.5 bn”.

Forbes attributed the gain to the return of Femi Otedola, who has reclaimed a place in the top 20 richest African list, thanks to his 73% stake in Geregu Power Plant which is worth more than $850 million (about 75% of his $1.1 billion fortune).

The Forbes methodology indicated that the net worths were calculated using stock prices and currency exchange rates from the close of business on January 8, 2024.

“To value privately held businesses, we start with estimates of revenues or profits and apply prevailing price-to-sale or price-to-earnings ratios for similar public companies. Some listed members grow richer or poorer within weeks or days of our measurement date”.

See the full list of Forbes 20 richest people in Africa below:

1. Aliko Dangote — $13.9bn (Manufacturing)
2. Johann Rupert & family — $10.1bn (Fashion & Retail)
3. Nicky Oppenheimer & family — $9.4bn (Metals & Mining)
4. Nassef Sawiris — $8.7bn (Construction & Engineering)
5. Mike Adenuga — $6.9bn (Diversified)
6. Abdulsamad Rabiu — $5.9bn (Diversified)
7. Naguib Sawiris — $3.8bn (Telecom)
8. Mohamed Mansour — $3.2bn (Diversified)
9. Koos Bekker — $2.7bn (Media & Entertainment)
10. Patrice Motsepe — $2.7bn (Metals & Mining)
11. Issad Rebrab & family — $2.5bn (Food & Beverage)
12. Mohammed Dewji – $1.8bn (Diversified)
13. Strive Masiyiwa — $1.8bn (Telecom)
14. Aziz Akhannouch & family — $1.7bn (Diversified)
15. Othman Benjelloun & family — $1.4bn (Finance & Investments)
16. Youssef Mansour — $1.3bn (Diversified)
17. Yasseen Mansour — $1.2bn (Diversified)
18. Christoffel Wiese — $1.2bn (Fashion & Retail)
19. Michiel Le Roux — $1.1bn (Finance & Investments)
20. Femi Otedola — $1.1bn (Energy)