BREAKING: Dangote Continues Dominance As Adenuga, Otedola Remain On Forbes Africa’s Rich List

Four Nigerian businessmen — Aliko Dangote, Mike Adenuga, Abdulsamad Rabiu, and Femi Otedola — have been named among Africa’s richest individuals on the 2025 Forbes Africa Billionaires List, released on Saturday.

For the 14th year in a row, Aliko Dangote topped the list, with his net worth soaring to $23.9 billion — a significant increase from $13.9 billion last year. The rise is largely attributed to Forbes accounting for the full value of his massive refinery project.

Dangote’s business empire, the Dangote Group, spans multiple sectors, including cement, sugar, flour, salt, beverages, real estate, fertiliser, and oil and gas.

Mike Adenuga, founder of Pan-African telecom giant Globacom, ranked fifth with a net worth of $6.8 billion, while BUA Group chairman Abdulsamad Rabiu followed with $5.1 billion. Rabiu’s group operates across cement, sugar, and oil sectors.

Femi Otedola, another prominent Nigerian mogul and philanthropist, secured the 16th position on the list, with his wealth rising by over 30% to reach $1.5 billion — making him one of Africa’s fastest-growing billionaires.

“Another billionaire whose fortune grew by more than 30 per cent was Femi Otedola of Nigeria ($1.5 billion), chairman of listed power generation firm Geregu Power Plc. Shares of Geregu surged by approximately 40 per cent in the past year following a rise in revenue and profits,” Forbes noted.

Otedola is chairman of Geregu Power Plc — Nigeria’s first power-generating company to be listed on the Nigerian Exchange in October 2022. He also chairs First Holdco Plc (formerly FBN Holdings), a major financial services group in Africa.

The Forbes list tracks billionaires whose primary residence or business operations are in Africa. Net worths were calculated using stock prices and currency exchange rates as of March 7, 2025.

This year, the continent’s billionaire club grew to 22 individuals, with a combined net worth of $105 billion — surpassing the $100 billion mark for the first time and rising from $82.4 billion last year.

South Africa led the pack with seven billionaires, followed by Nigeria and Egypt, with four each.