The 10 richest people in Africa – and almost half are South African

Forbes has published its Africa’s Billionaires List for 2025, featuring four South Africans among the continent’s top ten wealthiest people.

Forbes’ list tracks the wealth of African billionaires who reside in Africa or have their primary business on the continent.

According to Forbes, 2025 is a record year for Africa’s 22 billionaires, whose cumulative wealth surpassed $100 billion (R1.84 trillion) for the first time ever.

“It’s no small feat to generate this level of wealth on the continent, where political uncertainty, currency crises and challenging consumer markets are routine,” said Forbes.

According to research investment firm MSCI, the growth for Africa’s wealthiest is in line with global equity markets, which rose 22% in the 12 months ended February 2025.

Looking at the continent’s 22 listed billionaires, the top 10 wealthiest individuals come from only four countries—Algeria, Egypt, Nigeria, and South Africa.

Four of Africa’s richest people are South African, followed by three from Nigeria and Eygpt, and one from Algeria.

Aliko Dangote of Nigeria tops the list for the 14th year in a row with an estimated net worth of $23.9 billion (R440.4 billion), up from $13.9 billion a year ago.

Forbes explained that the big jump in his fortune is primarily due to the addition of the value of his refinery, which opened last year on the outskirts of Lagos after long delays. 

The second richest African is South African luxury goods tycoon Johann Rupert, whose fortune rose 39% to $14 billion (R258 billion), the second-largest gain among the billionaires.

Another South African diamond magnate, Nicky Oppenheimer, is in the third spot, with his net worth increasing 9.5% from $9.5 billion to $10.4 billion (R191.6 billion).

For 85 years until 2012, the Oppenheimer family occupied a controlling spot in the world’s diamond trade.

In 2014, Oppenheimer started Fireblade Aviation in Johannesburg, which operates chartered flights. He also owns at least 720 square miles of conservation land across South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

Nassef Sawiris, an investor and scion of Egypt’s wealthiest family, is fourth, with a net worth of $9.6 billion (R176.9 billion).

This main source of wealth comes from his engineering and building firm Orascom, which trades on the Cairo exchange and Nasdaq Dubai.

Mike Adenuga, Nigeria’s second-richest man, is fifth on the list, with an estimated net worth of $6.8 billion (R125.3 billion).

According to Forbes, Adenuga built his fortune in telecommunications and oil production. His mobile phone network, Globacom, is the second-largest operator in Nigeria, with more than 60 million subscribers.

Media mogul Koos Bekker and mining boss Patrice Motsepe are the other South African billionaires ranked in the top 10.

Koos Bekker is ranked in 8th place, with an estimated net worth of $3.4 billion (R62.7 billion), an increase from $2.6 billion in 2024.

Africa’s first black billionaire, Motsepe, rounds out the top 10, tied in tenth place with Algeria’s Issad Rebrab.

Motsepe’s, the founder and chairman of African Rainbow Minerals, net worth is estimated at $3.0 billion
(R55.3 billion).

Outside of the top 10, Capitec founder Michiel le Roux ranked 12th in Africa with a net worth of $2.2 billion (R40.5 billion).

Jannie Mouton, founder of investment holding company PSG Group, has reemerged on Forbes’ radar as the 16th richest person in Africa.

Forbes noted that this is largely thanks to a 59% jump in the share price of Capitec Bank Holdings, one of Mouton’s most significant holdings. his net worth is estimated at $1.5 billion (R27.6 billion).

Consumer retail giant Chrstoffel Wiese, the man behind the Pepkor retail empire, also ranks 16th and has a fortune similar to Mouton’s at $1.5 billion (R27.6 billion).

Forbes highlighted that South Africa had the largest number of billionaires in Africa this year, with seven, followed by four from Nigeria and four from Egypt.

Forbes noted that net worths were calculated using stock prices and currency exchange rates as of 7 March 2025.

It added that net worth changes were measured from Forbes’ 2024 African Billionaires list, published in January 2024.

To value privately held businesses, Forbes said it started with estimates of revenues or profits and applied prevailing price-to-sale or price-to-earnings ratios for similar public companies.