17 AFRICANS YOU DIDN’T KNOW WERE BILLIONAIRES

Forbes’ 2014 billionaires list has a record 1,645 people, including 29 Africans worth $1 billion or more — nine more than last year. Here are the richest known people — and in some cases, families — in Africa: 17 Africans you didn’t know were billionaires. (Source AFK Insider).

1. Aliko Dangote

Worth $25 billion, Aliko Dangote of Nigeria, has been Africa’s richest man for four years now. He made his fortune producing cement, milling flour and refining sugar and food beverages and is $9 billion richer than last year, according to Forbes.

2. Johann Rupert & Family

Forbes ranks the luxury good tycoon from South Africa as its number two richest man on the continent, worth $7.6 billion. He owns the Swiss-based luxury goods outfit Compagnie Financiere Richemont, which you might not have heard of, but its top end brands Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels and Montblanc among others, are household luxury names.

3. Nicky Oppenheimer & Family

The descendants of South Africa’s original diamond barrens, the Oppenheimers, are worth $6.7 billion. A number that was buoyed when they sold their 40% stake in the family diamond business, De Beers, in July 2012, in a $5.1 billion all-cash deal to Anglo American. Although no longer majority shareholders in the diamond business, the Oppenheimer family still makes a profit through investments with private equity firm Tana Africa Capital, Forbes reports.

4. Nassef Sawiris

Tied with the Oppenheimer family when it comes to net worth, with $6.7 billion to play with, is Nassef Sawiris. He is the CEO of Egypt’s most valuable publicly-traded company, Orascom Construction Industries, according to Forbes.

5. Mike Adenuga

The founder of Nigeria’s second largest mobile phone network, Globacom, is notoriously reclusive, Forbes reports  , hardly ever granting press interviews and always traveling with plenty of bodyguards. He is worth $4.6 billion with a portion of his wealth also derived from oil profits – he has the rights to some of Nigeria’s lucrative oil fields that his other company, Conoil Producing, mines.

6. Isabel Dos Santos

Worth $3.7 billion, Isabel dos Santos of Angola is Africa’s richest woman and one of only two female billionaires on the continent — and the only woman to make Africa’s Top 10 wealthiest. The oldest daughter of Angola’s president Eduardo dos Santos, she owns large stakes in a number of blue-chip companies in Angola and Portugal including Angolan cell phone company Unitel. It is purported, however, that many of Isabel’s assets are actually held by her in trust for her father.

7. Issad Rebrab

Algeria’s richest man, Issad Rebrab, is worth $3.2 billion thanks in a large part to his stake in his family’s business conglomerate Cevital, which has interests in auto distribution, mining, agriculture and sugar refining among others and is Algeria’s largest family-owned business group, employing some 12,000 people including all five of Rebrab’s children, Forbes reports.

8. Christoffel Wiese

Also clocking in at $3.2 billion, the South African retail mogul owns a chain of low-price supermarkets, Shoprite, located across multiple African countries. Christoffel Wiese also has assets in discount fashion brands, a five star hotel and a private equity firm, according to Forbes.

9. Nathan Kirsh

Worth $3.1 billion, Nathan Kirsh is the only Swazi national on Forbes’ Top 10 list. He is the founder of Jetro Holdings, a cash-and-carry wholesaler for grocery stores, but made his first millions after founding a corn-milling business in Swaziland in 1958, Forbes reports.

10. Mohamed Mansour

Mohamed Mansour of Egypt owns of the world’s largest GM dealership along with his two brothers, Yasseen and Youssef (also on the billionaires list, but slightly lower down), and is worth $3.1 billion, Forbes reports.

11. Issad Rebrab

Algeria’s first billionaire, and a first timer on the list, Rebrab’s unparalleled success comes from his company Cevital, which produces margarine, sugar, and vegetable oil. He works alongside his five children, and is worth $3 billion, Forbes reports.

12. Naguib Sawiris

An investor, Egypt’s Sawiris has made big bank in the telecommunications industry. Also, during the Egyptian uprising of 2011 and the ousting of President Mubarak, he founded the Free Egyptians Party, and was a major push against the removal of Mubarak’s replacement, Mohamed Morsi. He is worth $2.8 billion, Forbes reports.

13. Patrice Motsepe

South Africa’s first black billionaire, Motsepe was born into impoverishment and rose first to prominence as a lawyer in Johannesburg. His African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) yields high volumes of platinum, nickel, gold, copper and coal. He is worth $2.7 billion, Forbes reports.

14. Othman Benjelloun

Morocco’s Benjelloun has his hands full as one of the country’s wealthiest. His holding company, FinanceCom, invests in telecom, banking, and insurance. He is also the CEO of BMCE Banks, which is present in 15 African countries, and he runs a money management firm in Paris. He is worth $2.7 billion, Forbes reports.

15. Folorunsho Alakija

Once a fashion student in London, Alakija returned to her native Nigeria to found her own tailoring company, Supreme Stitches. One of her clients is former first lady Maryam Babandiga, an alliance that helped her get approved by the Ministry of Energy for an oil prospecting license in 1993. These relationships led to her ownership of Famfa Oil, which produces about 200,000 barrels a day. She is worth $2.7 billion, Forbes reports.

16. Youssef Mansour

Mansour and his two brothers own Mansour Group, which holds Caterpillar dealerships in Russia and eight different countries in Africa. He also helped bring Egypt’s largest supermarket chain, Metro, into prominence. He is worth $2.3 billion, Forbes reports.

17. Onsi Sawiris

Another Egyptian “gold mine”, Sawiris is the patriarch of the richest family in the country. His three sons — Nassef, Naguib and Samih — now own the company he founded, Orascom Construction Industries, which rakes in more than $5 billion in revenues. Sawiris has a net worth of around $2 billion, Forbes reports.