Africa’s 10 richest billionaires are now worth a combined $121.3 billion, up from $119.1 billion in March 2026, based on Forbes estimates.
This profile feature looks at Africa’s top 10 billionaires and how their fortunes have changed since Forbes’ annual Africa billionaires ranking published in March 2026. The latest figures are based on Forbes’ real-time billionaires tracker as of September 3, 2026.
Billionaire fortunes fluctuate daily with changes in share prices, exchange rates and the value of privately held assets.
As a result, the ranking in this profile reflects their estimated wealth as at the time of publication, rather than a fixed annual ranking.
Michiel Le Roux is a South African banking billionaire and one of the founders of Capitec Bank, which he established in 2001 to serve the country’s emerging middle class. He owns about 11% of the Johannesburg-listed lender and remains on its board.
His net worth currently stands at $3.7billion, a $100 million drop from the March 2026 valuation. In the latest update, his fortune increased by $4 million, or 0.10%. He is ranked No. 1,160 among the world’s billionaires.
Le Roux previously ran Boland Bank, a small regional lender serving communities around Cape Town, before helping establish Capitec. He served as chairman of the bank from 2007 to 2016 and continues to hold a seat on its board.
Capitec’s growth into one of South Africa’s major retail banks has remained central to Le Roux’s wealth and business profile.
Mohamed Mansour oversees Mansour Group, the Egyptian family conglomerate with interests spanning automotive, industrial equipment, consumer goods and other businesses. Founded by his father, Loutfy Mansour, in 1952, the group now employs about 60,000 people.
Mansour’s net worth stands at $4 billion, unchanged from his March 2026 valuation. The latest estimate puts him at No. 1,065 among the world’s billionaires.
His connection to the automotive industry dates to 1975, when he established General Motors dealerships in Egypt. The business grew into one of GM’s largest distributors globally. Mansour Group also holds exclusive distribution rights for Caterpillar equipment in Egypt and seven other African countries.
Mansour has also held public office, serving as Egypt’s minister of transportation from 2006 to 2009. His brothers, Yasseen and Youssef Mansour, who share ownership of the family group, are also billionaires.
Patrice Motsepe built his fortune in mining as the founder and chairman of African Rainbow Minerals, a South African mining group with interests across commodities including platinum, manganese, iron ore and copper. He later expanded his business interests into private equity and financial services through African Rainbow Capital.
Motsepe’s estimated net worth has fallen to $3.6 billion, from $4.3 billion in March 2026. That represents a $700 million, or 16.3%, decline in his fortune. His wealth also fell by about $5 million in the latest daily update.
Motsepe became a billionaire in 2008, becoming the first Black African to appear on Forbes’ billionaire list. He launched African Rainbow Capital in 2016 as a private equity firm focused on investments across Africa and also owns a stake in listed financial services company Sanlam.
Beyond business, Motsepe is the owner and president of Mamelodi Sundowns Football Club. In 2021, he was elected president of the Confederation of African Football, the governing body for football on the continent.
Naguib Sawiris is one of Africa’s prominent telecommunications billionaires, with his wealth linked largely to his former ownership of Orascom Telecom. He sold the company in 2011 to Russian telecom operator VimpelCom, now VEON, in a multibillion-dollar transaction.
His net worth stands at $5.6 billion, unchanged from his March 2026 valuation. His fortune increased by $14 million, or 0.24%, in the latest update.
Sawiris is chairman of Orascom TMT Investments, which holds interests across telecommunications, technology and financial services, including an Egyptian asset manager and Italian internet company Italiaonline.
His investments also extend into luxury hospitality through Silversands, a luxury resort he developed on the Caribbean island of Grenad
Mike Adenuga has added about $500 million to his fortune since March, taking his estimated net worth to $7 billion.
The Nigerian billionaire built his fortune through telecommunications and oil, with his biggest asset being Globacom, the mobile network operator he founded. Glo is Nigeria’s third-largest telecommunications company, with more than 17 million subscribers.
Adenuga’s energy interests include Conoil Producing, which operates six oil blocks in the Niger Delta. He also holds a 74% stake in publicly traded Conoil and just under 6% of Sterling Financial Holdings.
His telecommunications business extends beyond mobile services. Globacom built Glo-1, a 6,100-mile submarine cable linking West Africa to the United Kingdom through Ghana and Portugal.
Nassef Sawiris has built a diversified business empire spanning fertilizer, construction, investments and sports. He runs OCI, one of the world’s largest nitrogen fertilizer producers, and has built a portfolio that includes stakes in Adidas and Madison Square Garden Sports.
His net worth currently stands at $9.6 billion, unchanged from the $9.6 billion recorded in March. He added $45 million, or 0.46%, in the latest update, keeping his fortune broadly stable over the period.
Sawiris has steadily expanded beyond his core industrial interests. He owns a nearly 6% stake in Adidas and acquired a 5% interest in Madison Square Garden Sports in 2020, giving him a stake in the company behind the NBA’s New York Knicks and NHL’s New York Rangers.
His sports investments also include Aston Villa, the English Premier League club he co-owns with Wes Edens of Fortress Investment Group.
Sawiris is part of Egypt’s wealthiest business family. His brothers, Naguib and Samih Sawiris, are also billionaires, with the family’s interests spanning telecommunications, tourism, construction and investments.
Nicky Oppenheimer and his family were worth $10.6 billion in Forbes’ March 2026 Africa billionaires ranking. Their fortune has since edged up to $10.7 billion, according to Forbes’ latest real-time estimate tracked by Nairametrics.
The increase of $100 million, or about 0.94%, puts Oppenheimer at No. 4 among Africa’s wealthiest billionaires. His latest estimated fortune also places him No. 331 in the world.
Oppenheimer, 80, is heir to the De Beers diamond fortune and was the third generation of his family to run the diamond company. In 2012, he sold the family’s 40% stake in De Beers to mining group Anglo American for $5.1 billion in cash, ending an 85-year period in which the Oppenheimer family held a controlling position in the global diamond trade.
In 2014, Oppenheimer founded Fireblade Aviation in Johannesburg, a chartered aviation company. He also owns more than 720 square miles of conservation land across South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.
Abdulsamad Rabiu, Africa’s third-richest billionaire, is now worth an estimated $11.7 billion, according to Forbes’ latest real-time estimate tracked by Nairametrics.
His fortune has increased by $500 million, or 4.46%, from the $11.2 billion valuation recorded in Forbes’ March 2026 Africa billionaires ranking.
Rabiu is the founder of BUA Group, a Nigerian conglomerate with interests in cement production, sugar refining and real estate. He also controls stakes in BUA Cement and BUA Foods, both listed on the Nigerian Exchange.
Rabiu established his own business in 1988, initially importing iron, steel and chemicals, before expanding into manufacturing and other industries. In 2020, his privately owned Obu Cement merged with Cement Company of Northern Nigeria to form BUA Cement Plc.
Johann Rupert and his family rank as Africa’s second-richest, with their combined fortune rising to $17.1 billion, according to Forbes’ latest real-time estimate.
Their fortune has increased by $1 billion from the valuation recorded in Forbes’ March 2026 Africa billionaires ranking.
Rupert, 74, is chairman of Swiss luxury goods company Compagnie Financière Richemont, whose portfolio includes luxury brands such as Cartier and Montblanc. The company was formed in 1998 through a spinoff of assets owned by Rembrandt Group, founded by Rupert’s father, Anton Rupert.
Beyond Richemont, Rupert owns about 7% of investment company Remgro, which he chairs, and roughly 26% of Reinet, a Luxembourg-based investment holding company.
Aliko Dangote remains Africa’s richest person, with his estimated fortune rising to $31.1 billion, according to Forbes’ latest real-time billionaire estimate tracked by Nairametrics.
That represents a $4.6 billion, or 19.2%, increase from the $26.5 billion valuation recorded in Forbes’ March 2026 Africa billionaires ranking.
Dangote’s wealth is largely tied to his interests in cement, sugar and manufacturing. He founded and chairs Dangote Cement, which Forbes describes as Africa’s largest cement producer, with a production capacity of 48.6 million metric tons annually and operations across 10 African countries.
His business interests have expanded beyond cement. The Dangote Fertilizer plant in Nigeria began operations in March 2022, while the Dangote Refinery, after years of construction, began refining operations in early 2024.
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