2021 Forbes' Africa Billionaires list

Below is list of the businessmen that are carrying the African economy on their shoulders. Majority are from Egypt, South Africa and Nigeria.

What is up with the Nigerian Billionaires though? They are making their billions just from ordinary commodities like Sugar and cement. For context purposes, a billionaire like Trump is worth 3 billion from all his wealth from Real estate, Five star Hotels, Resorts, Golf courses etc while Dangote is worth 12 billions from just selling sugar? Unbelievable stuff

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The Somali Caesar

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Aliko Dangote is also constructing an oil refinery which is expected for launch this year. It’s a $20 billion project with huge ROI obviously

 
They'll all be quickly surpassed by up and coming tech billionaires in Africa. Brick and Mortar/ commodity billionaires are usually quick to start but can't haul it in the long run. The world advances, but their industries don't. They'll always be needed, but just won't muster the same power and wealth as we progress.

Same story every where else. In America, the richest people used to be those that owned sugar, cotton, textiles, etc. But now they've all been eclipsed by the likes of Bill Gates, Bezos, Zuckerberg, etc.

When an economy is developing, like in most African countries, the richest are those that have horded the most natural resources. But, in developed economies its the folks that can innovate and create the best solutions.
 
Nigeria has a population of 200 million and that Dangote guy is a monopolist.

And, his grandfather was a rich Muslim businessman who had already established his families reputation and status. He didn't come from the dirt - he had a good education, network and resources all of which he used intelligentially to his advantage and to monopolize the industry with the help of the gov't ;)
 
I don’t think we will see tech billionaires from the African continent for security reasons. Just look at tiktok, america is desperate to shut it down. African countries stand no chance.
 
I don’t think we will see tech billionaires from the African continent for security reasons. Just look at tiktok, america is desperate to shut it down. African countries stand no chance.

Tech isn't just social media - only 2 of the world's top 20 richest tech companies are social media companies and 2 years ago there was only one - facebook. In 2050, 3 out of the 10 most populous nations on earth will be in Africa, and by 2100, 40% of all people on earth will be from Africa. They need technology solutions just like everyone else.

You could make the argument that companies in developed countries that already have broad market share will just export their services to Africa, but I do think there will be some homegrown entities, too.
 
I don’t think we will see tech billionaires from the African continent for security reasons. Just look at tiktok, america is desperate to shut it down. African countries stand no chance.
America and China will continue to dominate the big tech industry for the foreseeable future.

The biggest challenge that hinder tech startups in Africa is capital. You can have brilliant minds with great innovative ideas but without capital your innovative ideas will remain just ideas in your head.

There are many small scale startups in Africa currently but they are having difficulties in raising capital.
 
No Somali (or any East African) on the list :tocry:
Somalia and its economy has been in a mess for decades due to political instability. Currently the Somali economy is barely 7 billion in GDP. There is no way that such a small economy can produce a billionaire.

If we consider the whole of Eastern Africa I think it is only Tanzania that has a dollar billionaire.
 
Somalia and its economy has been in a mess for decades due to political instability. Currently the Somali economy is barely 7 billion in GDP. There is no way that such a small economy can produce a billionaire.

If we consider the whole of Eastern Africa I think it is only Tanzania that has a dollar billionaire.

True but I always hear Somalis do well in Kenya so I was expecting a Somali from there at least.
 
True but I always hear Somalis do well in Kenya so I was expecting a Somali from there at least.
There are many somali millionaires in Kenya but there is no billionaire. Kenya as a whole doesn't even have a single dollar billionaire. I think maybe it's because there are no monopoly businesses there where a single individual controls multiple sectors of the economy as is the case in a place like Nigeria.
 

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