Africa's Richest

In Forbes magazine’s latest list of Africa’s 50 richest, South Africans take up 16 spots compared to Nigeria’s 10. Overall, Africa’s 50 richest are worth a total of $95.6 billion. This is almost as much as the combined GDPs of Kenya and Tanzania, two of the biggest economies in East Africa.

Aliko Dangote, the 58 year old chairman and chief executive of the Dangote Group, the manufacturing conglomerate, is worth a princely sum of $16.6 billion. That’s $10 billion more than the second on the list, South Africa’s Nicky Oppenheimer, whose family owned the diamond mining firm and trader DeBeers.

Dos Santos’ net worth of $3.4 billion makes her the richest woman in Africa. She is the daughter of Angola’s long-term president José Eduardo and critics have accused her of leveraging her position to enrich herself. Most of her money comes from investments in oil, banking and telecom companies in Angola and Portugal.