Nigerian billionaires Dangote, Adenuga, Rabiu record more wealth growth than peers in Africa in 2023

A report by UBS, a multinational investment bank and financial services company, found that the billionaires' wealth in Nigeria rose to $28.5 billion in April 2023 from $23.8 billion in the same period last year.

Aliko Dangote, Abdulsamad Rabiu, and Mike Adenuga saw their wealth rise by nearly 20%.

The latest 2023 Billionaires Ambitious report highlighted how three billionaires in the most significant African economy drove the country's wealth by 19.7% in one year.

The billionaires Aliko Dangote, Abdulsamad Rabiu, and Mike Adenuga saw their wealth rise by nearly 20% during the period.

Highest self-made billionaire in Nigeria

Nigeria recorded more billionaires' wealth growth compared to South Africa and Egypt, with $25.6 billion and $13.5 billion, respectively.

The African giant also recorded 66.6% of self-made billionaires compared to South Africa, which had 60%, and Egypt, which had 50%.

Their wealth improvement can be linked with the market performance of their consumer retail and oil company performance.

Analysts at UBS said: “An obvious reason for the uptick in wealth would be the benefit of the stronger oil price given that Nigeria is usually Africa’s biggest oil producer.”

The wealthiest man in Africa, Aliko Dangote, founded and serves as chairman of Dangote Cement, the largest cement manufacturer on the continent.

He has an 85% share in the publicly traded corporation through a holding company.

Mike Adenuga amassed his wealth in the oil and telecom industries.

He owns and operates Nigeria's third-largest mobile phone network, Globacom, as well as six oil blocks in the Niger Delta through his oil exploration company, Conoil Producing.

In the case of Abdulsamad Rabiu, his father, a prosperous businessman, gave him a strong foundation in business acumen when he first started his company in 1988, importing iron, steel, and chemicals.

He is the chairman of BUA Group, a business conglomerate operating in different sectors of the Nigerian economy, including cement, food, real estate, mines and steel and sugar processing.

More billionaires concentrated in America

Meanwhile, the report noted that the world's largest concentration of billionaire wealth is still in the Americas, although there was little growth.

While the continent has 867 billionaires, accounting for a total of $5.0 trillion, this amount only rose by 2.7% in the period.

This means that the country added 12 billionaires from the 855 previously recorded.