Aliko Dangote is richest Nigerian, worth $3.3bn

Aliko Dangote is richest Nigerian, worth $3.3bn

Aliko Dangote is richest Nigerian, worth $3.3bn
By ayo Olesin with agency reports Friday, 7 Mar 2008
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Aliko Dangote Business mogul, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has been named the world’s 334th richest man with an estimated net worth of $3.3bn in the latest Forbes Annual World’s Billionaires Ranking, released on Wednesday. Forbes, which tracks the wealth of the world’s billionaires, said Dangote and South Africa’s Patrice Motsepe, were the first black Africans to join the world’s richest. It said Dangote was Nigeria’s first ever dollar billionaire. Forbes also said that United States investor; Warren Buffet, displaced Mexican telecom tycoon, Carlos Slim Helu, from the top position with an estimated net worth of $62bn on account of $10bn rise in net worth in the past year. Helu’s fortunes doubled in the past two years to $60bn. Microsoft co-founder, Bill Gates, who reigned on the top spot for 13 years, fell to third position with an estimated personal fortune of $58bn, up by $2bn since last year. According to Forbes, there are now 1,125 billionaires with a combined net worth of $4.4tn, up by $900bn from last year. “Despite the turbulence in the US markets, Americans account for 42 per cent of the world’s billionaires and 37 per cent of the total wealth last year, Forbes said. Dangote, who started out at the age of 21 with a N500,000 loan from his uncle in 1977, got his big break during the cement import licence regime in the late 70s. Highly connected in business and political circles, Dangote has since built a vast business empire with interests in rice, sugar, flour mills, salt processing, oil and gas, cement manufacturing, textiles, real estate, road transport and food and beverages. Another super rich Nigerian suspected to have achieved dollar billionare status is Globacom Chairman, Otunba Mike Adenuga. The Forbes ranking also said that Russia, with 87 billionaires, is now second behind the US, after overtaking Germany, with 59 billionaires. The Forbes rankings include 226 newcomers, 77 of whom are from the US. Half of that number who made their fortunes in finance and investments, include John Paulson and Philip Falcone, both of whom became wealthy shorting subprime debt. Another third of the new billionaires comes from Russia (35), China (28) and India (19). Forbes also named 50 billionaires under the age of 40, 25 of whom are new to the list. Forbes said 68 per cent of these under 40 tycoons built their 10-figure fortunes from scratch. They include Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page; former Enron trader John Arnold, who now runs a hedge fund; India’s Sameer Gehlaut, who started online brokerage, Indiabulls; and, Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, who at age 23 might just be the youngest self-made billionaire in history. Some of the more notable ones include China’s Gao Dekang, who is one of the world’s biggest makers of down jackets and vests; Portugal’s Americo Amorim, who turned his grandfather’s small cork operation into the world’s largest; and Brazil’s Eike Batista, who built and lost a gold mining fortune, before hitting it big in iron ore. He is now one of the world’s richest mining billionaires. On the down side, Hong Kong’s richest person, Li Ka-shing, lost $5.5bn of his net worth, all tied to publicly held stocks, in the 37 days between January 4 and February 11. Meanwhile, mainland China’s richest person, 26-year-old Yang Huiyan, fell from $17.3bn in September to $7.4bn in the rankings. Google co-founder Sergey Brin’s fortune touched $25.5bn in the past year but is now down to $18.7 bn, Forbes said. Others were hit much harder, falling off the list entirely, including Lehman Brothers’ chief Richard Fuld and Bear Stearns ex-chief James Cayne, both victims of the world’s credit crunch, and Pulte Homes’ William Pulte, whose stock collapsed along with the housing market.