14 of the Richest Africans in History

One of the richest men in the world is from Africa, but there’s plenty more wealthy men in the continent.

 From investing to trading, Africa is the homeland to many of the wealthiest men in the world. Here are some African millionaires and billionaires throughout history!

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Aliko Dangote

Photo: Getty Images Ben Gabbe / Stringer

Aliko Dangote is the richest man in Africa with a net worth of over $12.4 billion. He is the founder of Dangote Cement, the largest cement producer in Africa.

Strive Masiyiwa

Photo: Getty Images Jemal Countess / Stringer

Strive Masiyiwa’s net worth is $1.2 billion for creating Econet Wireless Zimbabwe, the largest mobile telecommunications company in the country. He also owns over half of Liquid Telecom, a satellite service.

Patrice Motsepe

Photo: Getty Images Eurasia Sport Images / Contributor

Patrice Motsepe founded a private equity firm called Africa Rainbow Capital in 2003. His net worth is $2.5 billion. He is also the president and owner of Mamelodi Sundowns Football Club.

Nassef Sawiris

Image: [{‘styles’: [], ‘value’: ‘Other’, ‘type’: ‘Text’}] Screen grab from Forbes.com

Nassef Sawiris is an Egyptian investor, making most of his money from his 6% stake in Adidas. He is the Executive Chair of OCI, a fertilizer company in the United States. His net worth is $6.7 billion.

Mansa Musa

Image: [{‘styles’: [], ‘value’: ‘Other’, ‘type’: ‘Text’}] Screen grab from Magazine.Northwestern.edu

Mansa Musa, who ruled Mali from 1312 C.E. to 1337 C.E., was the richest person in the world. Most of Musa’s wealth came from mining and trading gold and salt.

Mohamed Mansour

Image: [{‘styles’: [], ‘value’: ‘Other’, ‘type’: ‘Text’}] Screen grab from Forbes.com

Mohamed Mansour is a founder and board member of the Mansour Group in Egypt. The company is one of the biggest GM dealers in the world and also has investment, food, and capital ventures. His net worth is $2.5 billion.

Oba Otudeko

Oba Otudeko (R) founder of Honeywell Group receives the CEO of the Year award from Jay Ireland (L) CEO of General Electric Africa during the Africa CEO Forum Awards Photo: Getty Images SIA KAMBOU / Stringer

In 2014, Oba Otudeko was estimated to be worth $550 million. He is the founder of the Honeywell Group, an investment company.

Naguib Sawiris

Photo: Getty Images GIUSEPPE CACACE / Stringer

Naguib Sawiris comes from a wealthy Egyptian family. He has had several lucrative business deals making his worth $3.4 billion. In 2011, he sold the mobile telecommunications company Orascom Telecom, which was a billion dollar deal. He also created Silversands, a resort in Grenada.

Otumfuo Tutu II

Image: [{‘styles’: [], ‘value’: ‘Other’, ‘type’: ‘Text’}] Screen grab from Memphisinmay.org

Otumfuo Tutu II is the 16th monarch to Ghana’s Ashanti kingdom. He is the founder of Tranpomech Ghana, a sales company that contributed to his net worth being $10 million in 2014.

Othman Benjelloun & family

Image: [{‘styles’: [], ‘value’: ‘Other’, ‘type’: ‘Text’}] Screen grab from Forbes.com

Othman Benjelloun is Morroccan and the CEO of BMCE Bank of Africa. His net worth is $1 billion.

Mike Adenuga

Image: [{‘styles’: [], ‘value’: ‘Other’, ‘type’: ‘Text’}] Screen grab from Forbes.com

Mike Adenuga is the founder of Globacom Limited, a telecommunications company. He also is involved with Conoil Producing. All of his business ventures have made his net worth $5.6 billion.

King Mswati III

Photo: Getty Images Pool / Pool

King Mswati III is the last absolute monarch of Swaziland and was estimated to be worth $50 million in 2014 from investments.

Aziz Akhannouch

Photo: Getty Images LUDOVIC MARIN / Contributor

Aziz Akhaannouch is an owner of the Akwa Group, a conglomerate mostly being involved in oil, real estate, telecommunications, and more. His net worth is $1.8 billion.

Issad Rebrab & family

Photo: Getty Images AFP / Stringer

Issad Rebrab’s net worth is $5.1 billion as the CEO of family-owned Cevital. The company has investments in food processing and distribution, automotive, real estate, and more.

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