Nigerian Aliko Dangote is no longer the world's richest African after Johann Rupert took over – note the change BBC A Bloomberg Billionaires Index In its latest data. Although the change did not occur at the top of the list (both dollar billionaires are in the top 100 overall), the significant assets associated with them are still worth reporting, as they also represent a change at the top of the continent's list.
Pictured is Johan Robert from South Africa:
Perhaps the most important part of the 74-year-old South African’s empire is the Swiss-based luxury goods maker Richemont, which owns brands such as Cartier and Montblanc. But South Africa-based Remgro also has a significant interest. The latter is a massive investment holding with serious investments in everything from financial services to mining and food production. Robert is chairman of both companies.
Johann Rupert and his family's net worth is currently $14.1 billion, which is around 5,100 billion Hungarian forints.
This is enough to currently occupy the 147th position in the world rankings, which is 12 places higher than the current position of the richest person in Africa. Aliko Dangote is now ranked 158th on the list with a current net worth of $13.4 billion.
According to the data, it took Robert’s huge gains and Dangote’s huge losses (about $1.7 billion) for the South African businessman to overtake his rival. Dangote founded his business empire as a pioneer in the cement and sugar industries, and later branched out into several other industries. For a long time, his status as the richest African seemed unshakable.
As Orego noted, Nigeria’s newest oil refinery, named after the businessman, was recently completed and is also the largest in Africa. Dangote said that building a refinery of this capacity would reduce Nigeria’s exposure to foreign processors, which is personal to the country, and also opens up the possibility of the country becoming a significant exporter of oil products to the region in the foreseeable future.
