When it comes to African Billionaires, there are some usual suspects that make the list every year. Unfortunately, 2018 closed on a very bumpy note in the equities market and for many billionaires, this among other things resulted in some considerable loses in fortunes and some billionaires dropping off the list altogether.

The list dropped by 7 from 31 African billionaires to 24. A few billionaires still managed to grow their fortunes. Most Notably Nigeria’s Mike Adenugu who grew his fortunate the most with a 3.2 billion increase over his 2017 fortune.

Folorunsho Alakija remained Africa’s richest woman, Mohammed Dewji is still Africa’s youngest billionaire, and South Africa’s Elon Musk maintained the number one spot as the richest African on the list.

African Countries represented on the Billionaire list

By the end of 2018, South Africa had dropped 5 billionaires from the previous year. They closed with 6 billionaires, same as Egypt which dropped 2 billionaires from its 2017 list.

Nigeria maintained its 3 billionaires while last year’s newcomer from Zimbabwe still held his own. The other countries represented are Angola, Algeria, Ethiopia, Sudan, Swaziland and Zimbabwe with their first Billionaire.

African Billionaire Age Distribution

There are 3 billionaires in their forties, 5 in their fifties, 7 in their sixties, 6 in their seventies and 3 in their eighties. Africa’s youngest Billionaire is still Mohammed Dewji from Tanzania at Age 42.

Methodology

The African Billionaires list is a snapshot of wealth taken on January 1, 2018. It is based on the Forbes Real-time billionaire wealth calculator. The calculation is derived from stock prices and exchange rates from around the world used to calculate net worths. Some fortunes change from day to day due to fluctuations in the market.

The list is based on individuals rather than multigenerational families who share large fortunes, though included is wealth belonging to a billionaire’s spouse and children if the current list member is the founder of the fortune. In that case, you’ll see “& family” on the list. Also included are married couples who built fortunes and businesses together. 

It was an interesting year for African billionaires as some fortunes shrunk and others grew. So let’s look at who is left on the list and how they did in spite of the rough year-end.

Picture	Africa Rank	Forbes Rank	Name	Net Worth	Age	Wealth Source	Hometown / Residence
	1	#35	Elon Musk	$21.9 B	47	Tesla Motors	South Africa / United States
	2	#125	Aliko Dangote	$10.5 B	61	Self Made, cement, sugar, flour	Nigeria
	3	#149	Mike Adenuga	$8.7B	65	Telecom, Oil	Nigeria
	4	#180	Nicky Oppenheimer	$7.6 B	73	Diamonds	South Africa
	5	#217	Patrick Soon-Shiong	$6.6 B	66	Pharmaceuticals	South Africa / United States
	6	#240	Nassef Sawiris	$6 B	57	Construction, Chemicals	Egypt
	7	#316	Johann Rupert	$5.2 B	68	Luxury goods	South Africa
	8	#413	Nathan Kirsh	$4.4 B	86	Retail, Real estate	Swaziland
	9	#519	Issad Rebrab	$3.8 B	75	Food	Algeria
	10	#572	Naguib Sawiris	$3.5 B	64	Telecom	Egypt
	11	#758	Haim Saban	$2.8 B	73	TV network, Investments	Egypt / United States
	12	#955	Strive Masiyiwa	$2.3 B	58	Telecom	Zimbabwe
	13	#958	Koos Bekker	$2.3 B	66	Media, Investments	South Africa
	14	#964	Mohamed Mansour	$2.3 B	70	Diversified	Egypt
	15	#1033	Isabel dos Santos	$2.2 B	45	Investments	Angola
	17	#1107	Aziz Akhannouch	$2 B	58	Petroleum, Diversified	Morocco
	16	#1110	Patrice Motsepe	$2 B	56	Mining	South Africa
	18	#1317	Othman Benjelloun	$1.7 B	86	Banking, Insurance	Morocco
	19	#1387	Folorunsho Alakija	$1.6 B	68	Oil	Nigeria
	20	#1405	Mohamed Al Fayed	$1.6 B	89	Retail, Investments	Egypt
	21	#1441	Mohammed Dewji	$1.5 B	43	Diversified	Tanzania
	22	#1463	Yasseen Mansour	$1.5 B	57	Diversified	Egypt
	23	#1783	Mohammed Ibrahim	$1.2 B	72	Communications	Sudan / United Kingdom
	24	#1786	Youssef Mansour	$1.2 B	73	Self Made, diversified	Egypt

Aliko Dangote

It was an interesting year for African billionaires as some fortunes shrunk and others grew. Notably Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote’s wealth dropped by a couple of billions, giving South African/Canadian/American billionaire and founder of Tesla Motors, Elon Musk the edge he needed to top the list.

African Countries represented on the Billionaire list

In 2017, South Africa still topped the list with 9 billionaires after dropping Christoffel Wiese and adding Stephen Saad and Desmond Sacco. Egypt’s list grew to 8 billionaires with Sawiris family patriarch back on the list.

Nigeria’s billionaires dropped from 5 to 3, dropping Abdulsamad Rabiu and Femi Otedola. The other countries represented are Angola, Algeria, Ethiopia, Sudan, Swaziland and Zimbabwe with their first Billionaire.

African Billionaire Age groups

Mohammed Dewji

There are 3 billionaires in their forties, 5 in their fifties, 8 in their sixties, 7 in their seventies and 5 in their eighties. Africa’s youngest Billionaire is still Mohammed Dewji from Tanzania at Age 42.

Methodology

The African Billionaires list is a snapshot of wealth taken on January 1, 2018. It is based on the Forbes Real time billionaire wealth calculator. The calculation is derived from stock prices and exchange rates from around the world used to calculate net worths. Some fortunes change from day to day due to fluctuations in the market.

The list is based on individuals rather than multigenerational families who share large fortunes, though included is wealth belonging to a billionaire’s spouse and children if the current list member is the founder of the fortune. In that case you’ll see “& family” on the list. Also included are married couples who built fortunes and businesses together. 

Africa’s Billionaires of 2017

Picture	Africa Rank	Forbes Rank	Name	Net Worth	Age	Wealth Source	Hometown / Residence
	1	#61	Elon Musk	$19.6 B	46	Self Made, Tesla Motors	South Africa / United States
	2	#131	Aliko Dangote	$12.1 B	60	Self Made, cement, sugar, flour	Nigeria
	3	#144	Mohammed Al Amoudi	$10.5 B	71	Self Made, oil, diversified	Ethiopia / Saudi Arabia
	4	#212	Patrick Soon-Shiong	$7.9 B	65	Self Made, pharmaceuticals	South Africa / United States
	5	#216	Nicky Oppenheimer	$7.7 B	72	Diamonds	South Africa
	6	#239	Johann Rupert	$7.1 B	67	Luxury goods	South Africa
	7	#269	Nassef Sawiris	$5.6 B	56	Construction, chemicals	Egypt
	8	#347	Mike Adenuga	$5.5 B	64	Self Made, telcom, oil	Nigeria
	11	#543	Issad Rebrab	$4 B	74	Food	Algeria
	9	#464	Nathan Kirsh	$4.6 B	85	Retail, real estate	Swaziland
	10	#538	Naguib Sawiris	$4.1 B	63	Telecom	Egypt
	12	#699	Haim Saban	$3.3 B	73	Self Made, TV network, investments	Egypt / United States
	13	#766	Isabel dos Santos	$3.1 B	44	Investments	Angola
	18	#1213	Allan Gray	$2 B	80	Money management	South Africa
	19	#1260	Yasseen Mansour	$2 B	56	Self Made, diversified	Egypt
	14	#872	Koos Bekker	$2.8 B	65	Self Made, media, investments	South Africa
	15	#898	Mohamed Mansour	$2.7 B	69	Self Made, diversified	Egypt
	16	#1045	Patrice Motsepe	$2.4 B	55	Self Made, mining	South Africa
	17	#1145	Aziz Akhannouch	$2.2 B	57	Petroleum, diversified	Morocco
	31	#2005	Desmond Sacco	$1 B	75	Mining	South Africa
	20	#1269	Mohamed Al Fayed	$1.9 B	88	Self Made, retail, investments	Egypt
	21	#1650	Strive Masiyiwa	$1.7 B	57	Telecom	Zimbabwe / United Kingdom
	22	#1482	Othman Benjelloun	$1.6 B	85	Banking, insurance	Morocco
	23	#1610	Youssef Mansour	$1.4 B	72	Self Made, diversified	Egypt
	24	#1625	Folorunsho Alakija	$1.4 B	67	Self Made, oil	Nigeria
	25	#1666	Mohammed Dewji	$1.4 B	42	Diversified	Tanzania
	26	#1812	Stephen Saad	$1.2 B	53	Self Made, pharmaceuticals	South Africa
	27		Michiel Le Roux	$1.2 B	69	Banking	South Africa
	30		Christoffel Wiese	$1.1 B	77	Retail	South Africa
	28	#1913	Mohammed Ibrahim	$1.1 B	71	Self Made, communications	Sudan / United Kingdom
	29	#1955	Onsi Sawiris	$1.1 B	88	Self Made, construction, telecom	Egypt