For years, the revelation of the wealthiest African personalities offers little suspense as to the head of the list. On a global scale, bookmakers regularly struggle to predict the new elected official, depending on entrepreneurial success, capital appreciation or asset disposals.
The planetary domination of the American Bill Gates seems a long way off. Especially since the founder of Microsoft announced, on December 20, that his close status as a grandfather made him want to give up an additional 100 billion dollars, via his Bill-and-Melinda-Gates Foundation.
Quant au whimsical South African-Canadian-American Elon Musk, who became the richest man in the world in August 2022, has just yielded the top of the podium to Frenchman Bernard Arnault, managing director of the luxury goods group LVMH.
Dangote always in the lead
In Africa, Aliko Dangote succeeds himself, for the twelfth year, if we are to believe the very recent data of the specialized magazine Forbes and Bloomberg Financial Group. The Nigerian’s fortune is estimated at $13.5 billion.
In this era both characterized, structurally, by the widening of inequalities and, temporarily, by health and war crises, this capital is down, over one year, by 400 million, just as the collective wealth of African billionaires has fallen. of 3.1 billion.
This closed club nevertheless went from 18 to 19 members. As for the fortune of Dangote, 85th richest man in the world, it would have increased again by 5.5 billion, since the results of the end of December published on January 30…
If Elon Musk is clearly no longer counted among the Africans, it is two personalities from his native country who complete the podium of the continent. In second place is Johann Rupert, president of the Swiss luxury goods company Richemont, fortune down by 300 million but nevertheless estimated at 10.7 billion, or the 157th fortune worldwide.
Top 10
The bronze medal goes to Nicky Oppenheimer, the former president of the diamond mining company De Beers and its subsidiary Diamond Trading Company, currently at the head of a fortune estimated at 8.4 billion dollars.
The rest of the top 10 is made up of Nigerian Abdulsamad Rabiu (7.6 billion), Egyptian Nassef Sawiris (7.3 billion), Nigerian Mike Adenuga (6.3 billion), Algerian Issad Rebrab (4 .6 billion), Naguib Sawiris (3.3 billion), South African Patrice Motsepe (3.2 billion) and Egyptian Mohamed Mansour (2.9 billion).
Fortunes that would make some states green with envy. By way of comparison, the gross domestic product (GDP) of the Comoros is around one billion dollars a year, and that of Guinea-Bissau is estimated at around one billion. et demi…