Bloomberg, on Thursday published its latest edition of the world’s top 500 Billionaires Index, showing that networth of $27.8bn, more than double his 2022 valuation, Nigeria’s Aliko Dangote, President/Chief Executive of the Dangote Group, remains Africa’s richest as his wealth increased significantly on the back of the commencement of operations of his newly built $20bn Petrochemical refinery.
The same net value, Bloomberg said, ranks him as the 65th richest man in the World, up from 83rded in 2022, despite the volatility of the Nigerian currency against the dollar, with the Naira losing almost 50% of its value against the US$ between January and August 2024.
The Dangote Refinery located in Ibeju-Lekki, in the outskirts of Lagos, the biggest single-train oil refinery in the world and one of the most complex, capable of processing most global crude types, it is believed, has the potential to transform Nigeria’s economy, making the country self-reliant for fuel production. The refinery started producing premium motor spirit (petrol) in September among other products like diesel and Jet-A1.
Dangote was followed from afar on Africa’s continental ranking by Johann Rupert of South Africa at 174th on the world list with a wealth of $13.6bn; while Nicky Oppenheimer, another South African ranked 224th on the list with a wealth of $11.6bn.
Other Africans on the list are: South African’s Natie Karsh, number 297 in the world with a wealth of $9.25bn, Egypt’s Nassef Sawiris on number 302 in the world with a wealth of $9.16bn, and Naguib Sawiris also of Egypt with a wealth of $7.37bn on number 407 in the world.
The Bloomberg Billionaires Index is a daily ranking of the world’s richest people based on calculating net worth, Bloomberg News strives to provide the most transparent calculations available, and each individual billionaire profile contains a detailed analysis of how that person’s fortune is tallied.
The index is a dynamic measure of personal wealth based on changes in markets, the economy and Bloomberg reporting. Each net worth figure is updated every business day after the close of trading in New York. Stakes in publicly traded companies are valued using the share’s most recent closing price. Valuations are converted to U.S. dollars at current exchange rates.
On the global scale, Ellon Musk and Jeff Bezos are the richest with $242bn and $210bn respectively in their kitties, while Mark Zuckerberg and Larry Ellison followed respectively with $204bn and $185bn on the world’s billionaires’ chart.
