JUST after debuting with the Forbes Africa Magazine, Forbes published a list of 40 Africans billionaires and Nigeria's Aliko Dangote tops the list. Using stock prices and currency exchange rates from close of business Wednesday, November 2 to value privately-held businesses, estimates of revenues or profits with prevailing price-to-sales or price-to-earnings ratios for similar public companies were used. The inaugural list of Africa wealthiest men is a testament to the growing global importance of the continent.Aliko DangoteNet worth $13.8 billion as at March 2011Aliko, as called by former president Olusegun Obasanjo, was born April 10, 1957. The quintessential business mogul and president of Dangote Group, which has operations in Nigeria and several other Africa countries, including Benin, Cameroon, Ghana, South Africa and Zambia.The Nigerian businessman's fortune surged 557 per cent in the past year, making him the world's biggest gainer in percentage terms and Africa's richest individual for the first time. This followed the listing of the catalyst Dangote Cement, which integrated his investments across Africa with his previously public Benue Cement; it now accounts for a quarter of the Nigeria Stock Exchange's total market cap.Already the continent's biggest cement maker, Dangote has plants under construction in Zambia, Tanzania, Congo and Ethiopa and is building cement terminals in Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast and Liberia, among other places. He recently bought himself a $45 million Bombardier aircraft for his birthday, to enable him shuttle round with ease and swift, especially public offering in London later this year.Dangote began his career as a commodities trader in 1977; built the Dangote Group into conglomerate with interests in sugar, flour milling, salt processing, cement manufacturing, textiles, real estate, food processing, freight and oil and gas.Mike AdenugaNet worth $4.3 billionA reclusive tycoon, Mike Adenuga ranked fifth in Africa, runs Conoil Producing, the first Nigerian company to strike oil in commercial quantities in the early 1990s. Today Conoil Producing is Nigeria's largest oil exploration company, producing an estimated 100,000 barrels per day. The 'Guru' as he is fondly called by associates also owns Nigeria's second largest mobile telecom operator ' Globacom and Globacom West Africa, two distinct companies with a combined subscriber base in excess of 30 million people and operations in Nigeria, Ghana, and Benin.Apart from his 74% stake in Conoil Plc, through his ConPetro Limited, a holding company he fully owns and his holding in Equitorial Trust Bank, Adenuga owns 100% equity in all his other businesses. Conoil Producing, is Nigeria's largest indigenous oil exploration and production company, which operates six producing oil blocks and holds a 25% stake in Joint Development Zone Block 4, an oil prospecting license which has proven reserves of close to 1 billion barrels of oil and close to a trillion cubic feet of gas.Mike's ownership of extensive real estate holdings in some of Nigeria's most expensive neighborhoods such as Banana Island, Abuja, including the Mike Adenuga Towers and Bella's Place, a landmark building in Victoria Island, Lagos attest to his love for real estate and properties. He also owns properties in London, U.S and Dubai.He made his first million at the age of 26 selling lace and distributing soft drinks, but hit it big through the benefaction of former military head of state, Ibrahim Babangida, with lucrative contracts to build military barracks and oil prospecting license.Jim OviaNet worth $775 millionJim Ovia, regarded as the godfather of Nigerian modern banking, founded the Zenith Bank Group in 1990, which grew into West Africa's largest financial services provider by market capitalization and assets. He stepped down as CEO in July 10, 2010 after close to two decades at the helms, but remains the bank's largest individual shareholder. In 2007, Ovia founded Visafone, a mobile and fixed telecommunications provider that now has more than 1 million subscribers and with his 100% equity, he own and runs the company. Also own and run Quantum, a private equity firm. In addition, he has prime real estate in Victoria Island and Ikoyi, some of Nigeria's priciest neighborhoods. He is the Proprietor of the University of Information and Communication Technology, Agbor, Delta State. He serves as the Pioneer President of Nigeria Internet Group (NIG). He is ranked seventeenth among Africa's billionaires.Theophilus DanjumaNet worth $600 millionTheophilus Danjuma, Nigerian soldier (retired general), a former defense minister, politician, and businessman, is chairman of South Atlantic Petroleum (SAPETRO), a Nigerian oil exploration company. His father Kuru Danjuma, was a hardworking peasant farmer, the main vocation of his Takum community, Taraba State. He also traded in metal parts for farming implements and tools. Nigeria's biggest philanthropist, TY Danjuma, has endowed his private charity, the TY Danjuma Foundation, with $100 million. The Foundation's principal aims are to provide durable advantages through the implementation of development programs. The Foundation seeks to alleviate poverty in communities by providing basic amenities, education for children and young adults while also providing free medical care for indigent people. The Foundation is currently partnering with over 50 NGOs throughout Nigeria, and with the support and cooperation of 36 state governors. Rank 21, as Africa's wealthiest man, General Danjuma currently advises the President, Goodluck Jonathan on matters of state.Ayoola Oba OtudekoNet worth $550 millionFormer banker, Oba Otudeko sits on the board of blue chip companies including the Honeywell Group, a conglomerate and holding company with strong international presence he founded in the early 1980s. It has tentacles in oil & gas, flour milling, engineering, real estate and marine transportation; its Honeywell Flour Milling unit is publicly traded but revenues for the rest of the group are not disclosed. Separately, he owns a 14% stake in Bharti Airtel's Nigerian wireless phone operations and a controlling stake of Radisson Blu, a luxurious 5-star oceanfront hotel that recently opened in Victoria Island, Lagos. With his net worth of $550 million, he is ranked 24 among Africa's wealthy men.Hakeem Belo-OsagieNet worth $450 millionHakeem Belo-Osagie, a Harvard-trained petroleum economist, chairs the Nigerian operations of United Arab Emirates-based telecom provider Etisalat. He is a renownedtop gun within the financial circles in Nigeria. His fame came to a peak, when he became Chairman/CEO of the United Bank for Africa (UBA). Through his holding companies, Premium Telecommunications Holdings and MyaCynth, he controls a 12.5% stake in Etisalat Nigeria. A dedicated philanthropist, he is one of the largest donors to the African Leadership Academy, a residential secondary institution in Johannesburg, South Africa, which trains Africa's brightest students for a future of leadership. Ranked 28, as Africa wealthiest man, Hakeem, in March 2002, described his experiences as an entrepreneur and business leader in Nigeria.Abdulsamad RabiuNet worth $400 millionFrom a humble beginning, Abdulsamad Rabiu, Chairman/CEO of the BUA Group of Companies has nurtured the group to a world-class conglomerate. The business tycoon started importing commodities over 20 years ago. Now he heads the multi-faceted BUA Group, one of Nigeria's largest privately held conglomerates with business interests in manufacturing of Sugar, Cement, Flour Milling, Oil Milling, Port Concession, Real Estate Development, Oil & Gas and Shipping. The $1.6 billion BUA Sugar Refinery is the second largest in Africa after Dangote Sugar. The BUA Oil Mills is the largest vegetable oil processing company in West Africa. The group operates Nigeria's first floating cement terminal. Rabiu, one of the largest financiers of Nigeria's major ruling political party also serves as the chairman of the Bank of Industry, Nigeria. With a net worth of $400 million, Rabiu is 29 among Africa's billionaires.Mohammed IndimiNet worth $330 millionMohammed Indimi, an astute business man with a notable presence in the international business arena is a close ally of Nigerian military bigwigs. He is the founder and chairman of Oriental Energy Resources, a privately held Nigerian oil exploration and production company. A humanitarian and a philanthropist, Indimi is ranked 30 among Africa's wealthiest men. His Oriental Energy Resources currently has three offshore Nigerian oil and gas projects with daily production of 35,000 barrels.
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