Here are the 20 African billionaires in the current Forbes 2022 ranking

The magazine forbes released its annual list of the world’s billionaires for 2022. It has a total of 2,668 billionaires, compared to 2,755 billionaires in 2021, with global wealth worth $12,700 billion, compared to $13,000 billion in 2021. Ukraine- Crisis has Russian billionaires’ wings sharply reduced due to the fall of the ruble, the fall in share prices of Russian companies and the freezing of part of their wealth.

For this new ranking, it is the American of South African origin Elon Musk who, with an estimated fortune of 219 billion dollars, is at the top of the richest men in the world, thanks in particular to his electric cars -Telsa- and his SpaceX rockets that contribute to the to revolutionize land and space transportation. He is ahead of another American, Amazon boss Jeff Bezos ($171 billion) and Frenchman Bernard Arnault & Family, head of LVMH, whose fortune is estimated at $158 billion. Bill Gates and Warren Buffet complete the top 5 richest men in the world with net worth of $129 billion and $118 billion, respectively.

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At a continental level, Africa is the continent with fewer billionaires, as only 20 people are worth at least $1 billion. These 20 people from 8 different nationalities combine a combined fortune of 90 billion dollars.

Egyptians (6 billionaires) and South Africans (5 billionaires) are the most represented in this ranking of billionaires, followed by Nigerians (3 billionaires) and Moroccans (2 billionaires). Algeria, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Tanzania each have a billionaire.

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And as in previous rankings, Nigerian tycoon Aliko Dangote tops the list of Africa’s richest men with an estimated fortune of $14 billion, versus $11.3 billion over the same period the good behavior of his group’s flagship holding company Dangote Cement , which is present in several African countries. The Nigerian billionaire, who made his fortune in cement and agri-foods (sugar, flour, etc.), has begun diversifying his group by entering fertilizer, automobile, petrochemical and oil refining sectors with the construction of the continent’s largest oil refinery the 6th in the world.

Here are the 20 African billionaires from Forbes 2022

surnames and first names	Fortune (Billion/$)	African rank	world class	age	sectors
Aliko Dangote	14	1	130	64 years old	cement, sugar
Johann Rupert & family	8.9	2	230	71 years old	luxury, distribution
Nicky Oppenheimer & family	8.7	3	241st	76 years old	diamond and mines
Nessef Sawiris	7.7	4	304	61 years old	construction, investment
Mike Adenuga	7.3	5	324	68 years old	telecom, oil
Abdulsamad Rabiu	6.9	6.	350	61 years old	cement, sugar
Nathan Kirsch	5.3	7	509	90 years old	luxury, distribution
Issad Rebrad & family	5.1	8th	536.	78 years old	agri-food
Nagib Sawiris	3.4	9.	883.	67 years old	telecom
Patrice Motsepe	3.3	10	913	60 years	mining, insurance
Strive for Masiyima	3	11	1012	61 years old	telecom
mohamed mansur	2.5	12.	1238.	74 years old	diversified
Koos Becker	2.1	13.	1341	69 years old	media
Mohammad Al Fayed	2.1	14	1445.	93 years old	Distribute, invest.
Aziz Akhannouch & family	2	15	1513.	61 years old	oil, distribution
Michael Le Roux	1.8	16	1645	72 years old	banks, finance
Mohammed Dewji	1.5	17	1929	46 years	diversified
Youssef Mansur	1.5	17	1929	76 years old	diversified
Othman Benjelloun & family	1.3	19	2190	89 years old	banks, insurance companies
Yassen Mansur	1.1	20	2448.	60 years	diversified

Thanks to the sharp increase in his fortune, Dangote made a significant jump in the ranking of billionaires from 192nd to 130th place in the world. He is followed continentally by South Africans Johan Rupert & Family ($8.9 billion) and Nicky Oppenheimer & Family ($8.7 billion), the family whose grandfather founded mining company De Beers Diamond.

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Egyptian Nassef Sawiris, who held the continent’s second fortune in 2021, now ranks 4th on the continent with a fortune of $7.7 billion. He is one of the few billionaires on the continent whose fortune has declined in 2022 compared to 2021.

Egyptian Mohamed Al Fayed, 93, whose fortune is estimated at $2.1 billion, is the continent’s oldest billionaire, while Tanzanian Mohammed Dewji remains the continent’s youngest billionaire.

After all, African billionaires have generally made fortunes in different sectors: telecom, oil, construction, mining and metals, cement, food, media, banking and insurance, etc.