2026 Africa’s Richest People

In all, these 23 dealmakers and moguls are worth $126.7 billion, up 21% from 2025.

This list was first published on Forbes.com

Billionaire fortunes continue to surge in Africa. The members of the continent’s three-comma club—which surpassed $100 billion in combined wealth for the first time last year—are richer than ever, having added a collective $20.3 billion to their combined fortunes as major equity markets across the continent rally and regional currencies stabilize. In all, these 23 dealmakers and moguls are worth $126.7 billion, up 21% from 2025.

Aliko Dangote remains the richest of all, with an estimated net worth of $28.5 billion. He is $4.6 billion richer this year, as shares of his NGX-listed cement company surged nearly 69% since last March. Dangote Cement doubled its profits in 2025 to a record one trillion Naira. The Nigerian native, who plans to take his oil refinery public later this year, recently announced his company had signed a $400 million deal with a Chinese machinery company to accelerate plans of doubling the refinery’s full capacity by 2029.

The biggest gainer of all was Abdulsamad Rabiu, whose estimated net worth rose by 120%—or $6.1 billion—to $11.2 billion. He is now the third richest in Africa, up from number 6 a year ago and just behind luxury goods tycoon Johann Rupert (who is worth $16.1 billion). Shares of Rabiu’s biggest asset, BUA Cement, rose by 135%, outperforming the soaring Nigerian Stock Exchange (NGX), which is up by 81% to record highs over the past year as listed companies reported record profits and the government forced Pension Fund Administrators to increase holdings in equity investments. Capitec Bank founder Michiel Le Roux ($3.8 billion) is another big gainer as shares of the South Africa-listed financial institution jumped by 57%, outperforming the Johannesburg exchange’s 45% rise over the past year, as gold and platinum prices rose to new heights.

The only African billionaire who broke even this year was Nassef Sawiris. The Egyptian investor, who is worth an estimated $9.6 billion, owns a stake in the English Premier League soccer club Aston Villa. He also owns a roughly 6% stake in sportswear giant Adidas, in which he is set to become chairman at the company’s shareholder meeting in May.

Of the 23 members of this year’s Africa billionaires list, only four are poorer than they were a year ago. One of them is Morocco’s Anas Sefrioui. The real estate mogul lost $300 million in wealth as shares of his company, Group Addoha, fell by more than 30%. He now ties Nigeria’s Femi Otedola, who lost $200 million in wealth after selling the majority of his stake in Geregu Power at a discount to the public company’s market price, as the “poorest” billionaire in Africa, by Forbes’ estimates. Each is worth $1.3 billion.

Fourteen (or 61%) of the 23 are self-made, meaning they established their fortunes rather than inheriting them. There are no women African billionaires, and all except one (Tanzania’s Mohammed Dewji, age 50) are older than 60. South Africa remains the region with the most billionaires, home to 7 of the continent’s 23, followed by Egypt (with 5), Nigeria (4) and Morocco (3).

Our list tracks the wealth of African citizens who reside in Africa or have their primary business there, thus excluding Sudanese-born billionaire Mo Ibrahim, who is a U.K. citizen, and South Africans Nathan Kirsh and Paul Van Zuydam. Kirsh operates out of London and has his business in the U.S. and U.K., while Swiss-resident Van Zuydam’s business is based in France. Also not included are several high-profile billionaires who were born in Africa but migrated elsewhere. That includes Ivan Glasenberg, Clive Calder and most notable of all, the world’s richest person, Elon Musk.

METHODOLOGY

Net worths were calculated using stock prices and currency exchange rates from the close of business on March 1, 2026. Net worth changes were measured from Forbes’ 2025 Billionaires list, published in March 2025. To value privately held businesses, we start with estimates of revenues or profits and apply prevailing price-to-sales, price-to-earnings or similar ratios for similar public companies. Some list members grow richer or poorer within weeks–or days–of our measurement date.

1.  Aliko Dangote

Net worth: $28.5 billion
Rank in 2025: 1
Net worth in 2025: $23.9 billion
Self-made
Origin of wealth: Cement and Sugar
Age: 68
Country: Nigeria
Residence: Lagos

• Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest person, founded and chairs Dangote Cement, the continent’s largest cement producer.
• He owns 85% of publicly-traded Dangote Cement through a holding company.
• Dangote Cement has the capacity to produce 48.6 million metric tons annually and has operations in 10 countries across Africa.
• After many years in development, Dangote’s fertilizer plant in Nigeria began operations in March 2022.
• Dangote Refinery, which began construction in 2016, began its refining operations in early 2024.

2. Johann Rupert & family

Net worth: $16.1 billion
Rank in 2025: 2
Net worth in 2025: $14 billion
Inherited and growing
Origin of wealth: Luxury goods, fashion and retail
Age: 75
Country: South Africa
Residence: Cape Town

• Johann Rupert is chairman of Swiss luxury goods firm Compagnie Financiere Richemont.
• The company is best known for the brands Cartier and Montblanc.
• It was formed in 1998 through a spinoff of assets owned by Rembrandt Group Limited (now Remgro Limited), which his father Anton formed in the 1940s.
• He owns 7% of diversified investment firm Remgro, which he chairs, as well as 26% of Reinet, an investment holding company based in Luxembourg.
• Rupert has been a vocal opponent of plans to allow fracking in the Karoo, a region of South Africa where he owns land.

3. Abdulsamad Rabiu

Net worth: $11.2 billion
Rank in 2025: 6
Net worth in 2025:  $5.1 billion
Inherited and growing
Origin of wealth: Cement and Sugar
Age: 65
Country: Nigeria
Residence: Lagos

• Abdulsamad Rabiu is the founder of BUA Group, a Nigerian conglomerate active in cement production, sugar refining and real estate.
• In early January 2020, Rabiu merged his privately-owned Obu Cement company with listed firm Cement Co. of Northern Nigeria, which he controlled.
• The combined firm, called BUA Cement Plc, trades on the Nigerian stock exchange; Rabiu owns 98.2% of it. He also owns 95% of publicly traded food conglomerate BUA Foods.
• Rabiu, the son of a businessman, inherited land from his father.
• He set up his own business in 1988 importing iron, steel and chemicals.

4. Nicky Oppenheimer & family

Net worth: $10.6 billion
Rank in 2025: 3
Net worth in 2025: $10.4 billion
Inherited
Origin of wealth: Diamonds
Age: 80
Country: South Africa
Residence: Johannesburg

• Nicky Oppenheimer, heir to the De Beers diamond fortune, sold his 40% of the firm to mining group Anglo American for $5.1 billion in cash in 2012.
• He was the third generation of his family to run De Beers, and took the company private in 2001.
• For 85 years until 2012, the Oppenheimer family occupied a controlling spot in the world’s diamond trade.
• In 2014, Oppenheimer started Fireblade Aviation in Johannesburg, which operates chartered flights.
• He owns at least 720 square miles of conservation land across South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

5. Nassef Sawiris

Net worth: $9.6 billion
Rank in 2025: 4
Net worth in 2025: $9.6 billion
Inherited and growing
Origin of wealth: Construction and Investments
Age: 65
Country: Egypt
Residence: Cairo

• Nassef Sawiris is an investor and a scion of Egypt’s wealthiest family. His two brothers, Naquib and Samih, are also billionaires.
• In December 2020, he acquired a 5% stake in New York-listed firm Madison Square Garden Sports, owner of the NBA Knicks and the NHL Rangers teams.
• He runs OCI, one of the world’s largest nitrogen fertilizer producers, with plants in Texas and Iowa; it trades on the Euronext Amsterdam exchange.
• Orascom Construction, an engineering and building firm, trades on the Cairo exchange and Nasdaq Dubai.
• His holdings include a nearly 6% stake in German sportswear giant Adidas.
• Nassef Sawiris teamed up with Fortress Investment Group’s Wes Edens to purchase the Premier League’s Aston Villa Football Club.

6. Mike Adenuga

Net worth: $6.5 billion
Rank in 2025: 5
Net worth in 2025 $6.8 billion
Self-made
Origin of wealth: Telecom and Oil
Age: 72
Country: Nigeria
Residence: Lagos

• Mike Adenuga built his fortune in telecommunications and oil production.
• His mobile phone network, Globacom, is the third-largest operator in Nigeria, with more than 17 million subscribers.
• His oil exploration outfit, Conoil Producing, operates six oil blocks in the Niger Delta.
• Globacom also built Glo-1, a 6,100-mile-long submarine Internet cable to the U.K. via Ghana and Portugal.
• Adenuga also owns 74% of publicly traded gasoline firm Conoil and just under 6% of publicly traded Nigerian bank Sterling Financial Holding.

7. Naguib Sawiris

Net worth $5.6 billion
Rank in 2025: 7
Net worth in 2025: $5 billion
Inherited and growing
Origin of wealth: Telecom
Age: 71
Country: Egypt
Residence: Cairo

• Naguib Sawiris is a scion of Egypt’s wealthiest family. His brothers Nassef and Samih are also billionaires.
• He built a fortune in telecom, selling Orascom Telecom in 2011 to Russian telecom firm VimpelCom (now Veon) in a multibillion-dollar transaction.
• He’s chairman of Orascom TMT Investments, which has stakes in an asset manager in Egypt and Italian internet company Italiaonline, among others.
• He also developed a luxury resort called Silversands on the Caribbean island of Grenada.

8.  Patrice Motsepe

Net worth $4.3 billion
Rank in 2025: 10
Net worth in 2025: $3 billion
Self-made:
Origin of wealth: Mining
Age: 64
Country: South Africa
Residence: Johannesburg

• Patrice Motsepe, the founder and chairman of African Rainbow Minerals, became a billionaire in 2008, the first Black African on the Forbes list.
• In 2016, he launched a private equity firm, African Rainbow Capital, focused on investing in Africa.
• Motsepe also has a stake in Sanlam, a listed financial services firm, and is the president and owner of the Mamelodi Sundowns Football Club.
• In March 2021, Motsepe was elected president of the Confederation of African Football, the sport’s governing body on the continent.
• In 1994, he became the first Black partner at law firm Bowman Gilfillan in Johannesburg, and then started a mining services contracting business.
• In 1997, he bought low-producing gold mine shafts and later turned them profitable.

9. Mohamed Mansour

Net worth: $4 billion
Rank in 2025: 8
Net worth in 2025: $3.4 billion
Self-made
Origin of wealth: Diversified
Age: 78
Country: Egypt
Residence: London, United Kingdom

• Mohamed Mansour oversees family conglomerate Mansour Group, which was founded by his father Loutfy (d. 1976) in 1952 and has 60,000 employees.
• Mansour established General Motors dealerships in Egypt in 1975, later becoming one of GM’s biggest distributors worldwide.
• Mansour Group also has exclusive distribution rights for Caterpillar equipment in Egypt and seven other African countries.
• Mansour, who has both Egyptian and U.K. citizenship, served as Egypt’s minister of transportation from 2006 to 2009 under the Hosni Mubarak regime.
• His brothers Yasseen and Youssef, who share ownership in the family group, are also billionaires; his son Loutfy heads private equity arm Man Capital.

10.  Michiel Le Roux

Net worth: $3.8 billion
Rank in 2025: 12
Net worth in 2025: $2.2 billion
Self-made
Origin of wealth: Banking
Age: 76
Country: South Africa 
Residence: Stellenbosch

• Michiel Le Roux of South Africa founded Capitec Bank in 2001 and owns about 11% of the company’s shares.
• The bank, which trades on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, targets South Africa’s emerging middle class.
• He served as chairman of the board of Capitec from 2007 to 2016 and still sits on the company’s board.
• Le Roux previously ran Boland Bank, a small regional bank in Cape Town’s hinterland.

11. Issad Rebrab & family

Net worth: $3.6 billion
Rank in 2025: 10
Net worth in 2025: $3 billion
Self-made
Origin of wealth: Food
Age: 82
Country: Algeria

Residence: Algiers

• Isaad Rebrab founded Cevital and served as its CEO for more than 50 years; He named his son, Malik, CEO in July 2022.
• Cevital, Algeria’s biggest privately-held company, owns one of the largest sugar refineries in the world, with the capacity to produce 2 million tons a year.
• Cevital owns European companies, including French home appliances maker Groupe Brandt and Spanish aluminum firm Alas Iberia.
• After serving eight months in jail on charges of corruption, Rebrab was released on January 1, 2020. He denies any wrongdoing.
• In May 2023, an Algerian court barred Rebrab from exercising any commercial or management duties at Cevital.

11. Koos Bekker

Net worth: $3.6 billion
Rank in 2025: 8
Net worth in 2025: $3.4 billion
Self-made
Origin of wealth: Media, Investments
Age: 73
Country: South Africa
Residence: Cape Town

• Koos Bekker is revered for transforming South African newspaper publisher Naspers into an e-commerce investor and cable TV powerhouse.
• He led Naspers to pay a reported $34 million for a third of Chinese Internet firm Tencent Holdings in 2001–perhaps the greatest venture investment ever.
• In 2019, Naspers put some assets into two publicly-traded companies, entertainment firm MultiChoice Group and Prosus, which contains the Tencent stake.
• Naspers has sold down its stake in Tencent over the years and today owns less than 25%.
• Bekker, who retired as the CEO of Naspers in March 2014, returned as chairman in April 2015.

13.Jannie Mouton & family

Net worth: $2.7 billion
Rank in 2025: 16
Net worth in 2025: $1.5 billion
Self-made
Origin of wealth: Financial services
Age: 79
Country: South Africa
Residence: Stellenbosch, Cape Town

• Johannes ‘Jannie’ Mouton, also known as ‘Buddha Buffett’, is the founder of PSG Group, a listed investment holding firm.
• PSG has interests in financial services, banking, private equity, agriculture and education.
• Both of his sons serve on PSG Group’s board, and his son Piet Mouton is the CEO.
• The 2011 book, And Then They Fired Me, details how Mouton started PSG Group after getting fired at age 48.
• He had been fired by his fellow partners at stockbroking firm Senekal, Mouton & Kitshoff, which he cofounded.

14.Strive Masiyiwa

Net worth: $2.1 billion
Rank in 2025: 21
Net worth in 2025: $1.2 billion
Self-made
Origin of wealth: Telecom
Age: 65
Country: Zimbabwe

Residence: London, United Kingdom

• Strive Masiyiwa overcame protracted government opposition to launch mobile phone network Econet Wireless Zimbabwe in his country of birth in 1998.
• He owns 38% of publicly-traded Econet Wireless Zimbabwe, which is one part of his larger Econet Group, as well as roughly 33% of mobile phone-based money transfer firm EcoCash.
• Masiyiwa also owns a stake in private company Liquid Intelligent Technologies, which provides fiber optic and cloud-based services to telecom firms across Africa.
• His other assets include investments in fintech and power distribution firms in Africa plus stock options in Netflix, where he has served on the board since December 2020.
• He and his wife Tsitsi founded the Higherlife Foundation, which supports orphaned and poor children in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Burundi and Lesotho.

14.Mohammed Dewji

Net worth: $2.1 billion
Rank in 2025: 12
Net worth in 2025: $2.2 billion
Inherited and growing
Origin of wealth: Diversified
Age: 50
Country: Tanzania
Residence: Dar es Salaam

• Mohammed Dewji is the CEO of METL, a Tanzanian conglomerate founded by his father in the 1970s.
• METL is active in textile manufacturing, flour milling, beverages and edible oils in eastern, southern and central Africa.
• In additional to Tanzania, METL operates in 10 African countries including Uganda, Ethiopia and Kenya.
• Dewji, Tanzania’s only billionaire, signed the Giving Pledge in 2016, promising to donate at least half his fortune to philanthropic causes.
• Dewji was reportedly kidnapped at gunpoint in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania in October 2018 and released after nine days.

16. Christoffel Wiese

Net worth $1.9 billion
Rank in 2025: 16
Net worth in 2025: $1.5 billion
Self-made
Origin of wealth: Retail
Age: 84
Country: South Africa
Residence: Cape Town

• Christoffel Wiese built his Pepkor retail empire by offering bargain prices in South Africa, later expanding into other African countries.
• In 2015, South Africa-based furniture retailer Steinhoff International spent $5.7 billion in cash and stock to acquire Pepkor.
• He stepped down as Steinhoff chairman in December 2017 after the company disclosed accounting irregularities. Its share price plummeted and Wiese lost his billionaire status.
• Wiese regained his nine-figure fortune 2022 when he settled his dispute with Steinhoff for cash and stock, including a 5% stake in Pepkor.
• His most valuable asset is Shoprite, but he also holds stakes in real estate firm Collins Property Group, investment holding company Brait and industrial products distributor Invicta Holdings.
• In March 2023, Brait spun off food manufacturer Premier Group in an IPO on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange; Wiese owns about 47% of the shares.

17. Youssef Mansour

Net worth: $1.8 billion
Rank in 2025: 20
Net worth in 2025: $1.4 billion
Self-made
Origin of wealth: Diversified
Age: 80
Country: Egypt
Residence: Cairo

• Youssef Mansour is chairman of family-owned conglomerate Mansour Group, which was founded by his father Loutfy (d. 1976) in 1952.
• Mansour Group is the exclusive distributor of GM vehicles and Caterpillar equipment in Egypt and several other countries.
• He oversees the consumer goods division, which includes supermarket chain Metro, and sole distribution rights for L’Oreal in Egypt.
• Younger brothers Mohamed and Yasseen are also billionaires and part owners of Mansour Group.

18. Othman Benjelloun & family

Net worth $1.7 billion
Rank in 2025: 14
Net worth in 2025: $1.6 billion
Inherited and growing
Origin of wealth: Banking, insurance
Age: 93
Country: Morocco
Residence: Casablanca

• Othman Benjelloun is CEO of BMCE Bank of Africa, which has assets of more than $12 billion and a presence across West, Central and East Africa.
• He is father was a shareholder in RMA, a Moroccan insurance company; Benjelloun built it into a leading insurer.
• Through his holding company FinanceCom, he has a stake in the Moroccan arm of French telecom firm Orange.
• He inaugurated in 2014 a $500 million plan to build the 55-story Mohammed VI Tower in Rabat, one of the tallest buildings in Africa.
• FinanceCom, which largely operates as O Capital Group, is part of a project to develop a multibillion-dollar tech city in Tangiers that is expected to host 200 Chinese companies.

19. Aziz Akhannouch & family

Net worth: $1.6 billion
Rank in 2025: 16
Net worth in 2025: $1.5 billion
Inherited and growing
Origin of wealth: Petroleum, Diversified
Age: 65
Country: Morocco
Residence: Casablanca

• Aziz Akhannouch is the majority owner of Akwa Group, a multibillion-dollar conglomerate founded by his father and a partner, Ahmed Wakrim, in 1932.
• It has interests in petroleum, gas and chemicals through publicly-traded Afriquia Gaz and Maghreb Oxygene.
• Akhannouch was appointed prime minister of Morocco in Sept 2021.

20. Yasseen Mansour

Net worth: $1.4 billion
Rank in 2025: 21
Net worth in 2025: $1.2 billion
Self-made
Origin of wealth: Diversified
Age: 64
Country: Egypt
Residence: Cairo

• Yasseen Mansour is a shareholder in family-owned conglomerate Mansour Group, which was founded by his father Loutfy (d. 1976) in 1952.
• Mansour Group is the exclusive distributor of GM vehicles and Caterpillar equipment in Egypt and several other countries.
• His brothers Mohamed and Youssef are also billionaires and part owners of Mansour Group.
• He’s chairman of Palm Hills Developments, one of Egypt’s biggest real estate developers.

20. Samih Sawiris

Net worth: $1.4 billion
Returnee
Inherited and growing
Origin of wealth: Real estate, hotels
Age: 69
Country: Egypt

Residence: Cairo

• Samih Sawiris is the middle son of Egypt’s wealthiest family, and founder and chairman of Orascom Development Holding, which builds and operates resorts in Egypt, Montenegro and Switzerland.
• His brothers, Nassef and Naguib, are also billionaires and his son, Naguib Samih, is chairman of the board at Orascom Development.
• He and his brothers all own stakes in publicly-traded Orascom Construction, the company established by their father in 1950.
• Sawiris is also a founder and board member of the Sawiris Foundation for Social Development (SFSD), which seeks to create sustainable job opportunities for Egyptians.

22. Anas Sefrioui & family

Net worth: $1.3 billion
Rank in 2025: 14
Net worth in 2025: $1.6 billion
Self-made
Origin of wealth: Real estate
Age: 68
Country: Morocco
Residence: Casablanca

• Anas Sefrioui is the founder and CEO of listed homebuilder Groupe Addoha, which has prospered thanks to government contracts.
• He made his fortune developing low-cost housing in Morocco.
• His daughter Kenza is the company’s deputy chairman.

22. Femi Otedola

Net worth: $1.3 billion
Rank in 2025: 16
Net worth in 2025: $1.5 billion
Origin of wealth: Energy and Utilities
Age: 63
Country: Nigeria 
Residence: Lagos

• Femi Otedola is a Nigerian billionaire who made his first fortune in commodities before selling his shares in Forte Oil to invest in the energy business.
• In 2025, Otedola sold his majority stake in Geregu Power, a power generation business, pocketing roughly $750 million.
• He had previously sold down his stake in Geregu, which once exceeded 95%, to bring on institutional investors.
• He retains a 5% stake in the Lagos-based company.
• He also owns properties in Lagos, Dubai, London and Monaco, and holds shares in Zenith Bank and FBN Holdings.