Four Nigerian billionaires are among the Forbes Africa’s Billionaires list for 2020, with Aliko Dangote topping the list for the ninth time in a row.
On the 2020 list, Egypt and South Africa tied with five billionaires each, Morocco has two, while Zimbabwe and Tanzania have one billionaire each, among members of the 3-comma club in Africa.
Africa’s 20 wealthiest people, according to the list, are richer in 2019 than 2018 with combined worth at $73.4 billion from $68.7 billion a year ago.
Aged 62, Dangote, the Chairman of Dangote Group emerged Africa’s richest man for the ninth consecutive year, despite the decreasing net worth of $200 million in one year.
His net worth dropped from $10.3 billion to $10.1 billion during the period under review.
However, Forbes, an American media company that ranks billionaires, attributed the slight decline to drop in the the stock price of Dangote Cement.
Mike Adenuga, a Nigerian billionaire with stakes in telecom, Globalcom, Conoil and real estate, came third with a net worth of $7.7 billion.
Adenuga, 66, shared the third position with Nicky Oppenheimer, a South African.
In the third position in Nigeria is the owner of BUA Cement Plc, Abdulsamad Rabiu. Rabiu with 98.5 percent stakes in BUA Cement Plc.
Aged 59, he is the founder of BUA Group, a Nigerian conglomerate active in cement production, sugar refining and real estate and has a net worth of $3.1 billion.
The 68-year-old Folorunsho Alakija, the Vice Chairman of Nigeria’s Famfa Oil, was ranked 20th billionaire in Africa with a net worth of $1 billion.
Isabel dos Santos, the eldest daughter of Angola’s former president, was the second woman on the list with a net worth of $2.2 billion, down from $2.3 billion a year ago.
According to Forbes, out of the eight African countries that have billionaires, South Africa came first with five billionaires, while Nigeria closely trailed South Africa with four billionaires.
Forbes in explaining the ranking metrics, said: “Our list tracks the wealth of African billionaires who reside in Africa or have their primary businesses there… We calculated net worth using stock prices and currency exchange rates from the close of business on Friday, January 10, 2020.”
