Sudhir falls short of Forbes 2016 Africa Billionaires List

February 3, 2016 in Business, Foreign News by Editor

KAMPALA, FEBRUARY 3 – Ugandan millionaire Sudhir Ruparelia, who was in 2015 billed as East Africa richest businessman by Forbes Africa might still be a rich man but did not make to the magazine’s billionaire list for 2016.

The list which saw the net worth of Africa’s billionaires shrink by a whopping $19.5 billion stops at 22 billionaires most of them based in Egypt and South Africa. The continent’s billionaires have a net worth of $74.5 billion.

Sudhir who weighed in at $800 million last year had set himself a target of crossing the billion dollar mark but is apparently still in transition.

With 22 African billionaires this year, the number on the list has dropped by seven, compared to 29 the previous year. The list, which is available in the February issue of Forbes Africa, is dominated by Egyptians, who have a combined net worth of $14.1 billion, $2.3 billion shy of Nigerian billionaire, Aliko Dangote’s net worth.

Dangote remains the richest African on the list with his net worth increasing by $700 million from 2015.

Africa’s richest have a combined $74.5 billion, a drop of $19.5 billion from $94 billion in 2015. The wealthiest group are South Africans with a combined net worth of $20.1 billion. From the 54 African countries, only seven are represented in the list and only two women.

Rank	Name	Net Worth $	Origin of Wealth	Citizenship	Age
1	Aliko Dangote	16.4bn	Cement, Sugar, Flour	Nigeria	58
2	Nicky Oppenheimer & family	6.5bn	Diamonds	South Africa	70
3	King Mohammed VI	5.8bn	Diversified	Morocco	52
4	Christoffel Wiese	5.7bn	Retailing	South Africa	74
5	Johann Rupert & family	5.4bn	Luxury Goods	South Africa	65
6	Nassef Sawiris	4.2bn	Construction, Chemicals	Egypt	55
7	Isabel dos Santos	3.5bn	Investments	Angola	42
8	Issad Rebrab & family	3.1bn	Food	Algeria	71
9	Naguib Sawiris	3bn	Telecom	Egypt	61
10	Mike Adenuga	2.9bn	Telcom, Oil	Nigeria	62
11	Mohamed Mansour	2.5bn	Diversified	Egypt	68
12	Othman Benjelloun	2bn	Banking, Insurance	Morocco	83
13	Femi Otedola	1.8bn	Gas Stations	Nigeria	53
14	Youssef Mansour	1.7bn	Diversified	Egypt	70
15	Folorunsho Alakija	1.6bn	Oil	Nigeria	65
16	Koos Bekker	1.5bn	Media, Investments	South Africa	63
17	Yasseen Mansour	1.4bn	Diversified	Egypt	54
18	Onsi Sawiris	1.3bn	Construction, Telecom	Egypt	86
19	Aziz Akhannouch & family	1.1bn	Petroleum, Diversified	Morocco	55
20	Mohammed Dewji	1.1bn	Diversified	Tanzania	40
21	Stephen Saad	1bn	Pharmaceuticals	South Africa	51
22	Abdulsamad Rabiu	1bn	Cement, Sugar, Flour	Nigeria	55

Microsoft’s co-founder Bill Gates retains his position as the world’s wealthiest man with a net worth of $77.4 billion, reflecting a $1.8 billion decline in his fortune from last year. He retains the top spot for the 17^th time in the last 22 years. Gates is closely followed by Spaniard Amancio Ortega, who is the brains behind Inditex fashion group, which owns Zara clothing and accessories retail shops

With $48.9 billion, Facebook’s co-founder Mark Zuckerberg has moved up ten spots making him among the ten wealthiest people in the world. Zuckerberg holds the sixth position with his net worth increasing by $15.5 billion from $33.4 billion in 2015.