Aliko Dangote The Richest African – Forbes

Nigeria's Aliko Dangote

Aliko Dangote, President of Dangote Group, topped Africa’s rich list with a net worth of $13.8 billion and ranks ahead of some of the world’s notable names in the Forbes latest rankings of world’s richest men.

The number of tycoons from the emerging markets also surged in the rich list.

Dangote, who owns stakes in sugar, flour milling, salt processing, cement manufacturing, real estate, oil and gas companies, among others, has seen his net worth grow by 555 percent in the past year to take him from 436 places to 51 in 2011, ahead of giants like Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg (13.5 bn), Chelsea’s Roman Abramovich ($13.4 bn), Apples’ Steve Job ($8.3 billion), Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi ($7.8 billion) and Rupert Murdoch ($7.6 billion).

He is now richer than long time billionaires, white South Africans Nicky Oppenheimer of DeBeers and Johann Rupert of Richemont, a luxury goods group which owns Cartier, Dunhill and other premium brands.

With presence in 14 African countries, Dangote has emerged as the continent’s biggest cement maker, contributing significantly to the economies of other African countries.

The overall list showed that some 214 billionaires have been added to the rich list over the past year, bringing the total number to 1,210 with a combined wealth of $4.5 trillion.

Most of the newcomers are from the Asia-Pacific region. The 14 Africans on the 2011 Forbes Rich list are made up of two Nigerians, four South Africans and eight Egyptians.

Also on the Forbes list for Nigeria is the Chairman of Globacom and Equatorial Trust Bank, (ETB) Mike Adenuga, who is valued at $2 billion.

Adenuga debuts on the billionaires’ list after making waves with mobile technology. His telecoms carrier, Globacom, recently launched a 4G network, and he has invested $1 billion on a submarine cable connecting Nigeria to the rest of the world.

He owns a stake in Equitorial Trust Bank and chairs the Niger Delta oil exploration firm, Conoil.

Meanwhile, Carlos Slim remains the world’s richest person for a second year with estimated assets of $74 billion, according to Forbes magazine’s annual global ranking of billionaires.

For now, Dangote is gearing up to introduce Dangote Cement to foreign investors.

Companies listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange are required to have a minimum free float of 25 per cent. Dangote initially listed five per cent of shares.

According to analysts at Thaddeus Investment Advisors, the Nigerian market is too shallow for a stock of Dangote Cement’s size to be listed on the Exchange; this is why the balance of the free float will be listed outside of Nigeria.

Dangote, who recently bought himself a $45 million Bombardier aircraft for his birthday, has been shuttling between Nigerian and London for months in anticipation of a public offering in London later this year.

Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, former minister of the Federal Capital Territory, described Dangote as a rare breed and the pride of Africa.

He said: ‘When the producer of the BBC documentary described Dangote as the wealthiest black man in the world, several people challenged him. Well, Forbes just released their wealth list today and you guessed it.

Dangote is not only the richest black man, he is also richer than Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook. The Nigerian spirit is an excellent spirit. Believe it today and always.’

The net worth of Mexico’s Slim, 71, whose holdings include the largest mobile phone operator in the Americas, rose $20.5 billion. Bill Gates, 55, chairman of Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), was second again as his net worth rose $3 billion to $56 billion.

Warren Buffett, 80, Chief Executive Officer of Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK/A), held on to third place with $50 billion.