Aliko Dangote, President of Dangote Group, moved 37 places on the latest yearly Bloomberg top 500 World billionaires’ list.
With an estimated worth of $16.6bn, Dangote, who remained Africa’s richest for the eighth consecutive year, was ranked 64th richest person in the world, from his previous 103rd position.
While Jeff Bezos remains the world’s richest with $136bn in his kitty, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett followed in the 2nd and 3rd position respectively with $98.4bn and $83bn on the chart, dominated by North Americans.
Dangote’s estimated worth in the latest Bloomberg ranking far outstrips an earlier ranking by the Forbes Magazine, another elite publication which placed his fortune at $10.8bn in the 2019 Forbes Africa’s Billionaires’ list released in January, although he also retained the rank as the richest African for the 8th straight year.
There are four other Africans on the Bloomberg list, namely: Nicky Oppenheimer of South Africa, ranks number 216 with an estimated worth of $7.05bn; and Johann Rupert, also of South Africa, ranked number 225 with an estimated worth of $6.92bn. Another South African, Natie Kash was ranked 263 with an estimated worth of $6.10bn; as well as Naguib Sawiris of Egypt, ranked number 331 with an estimated fortune of $5.12bn.
Dangote, President of Dangote Industries, a closely held conglomerate, owns sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest cement producer, Dangote Cement, Dangote Sugar, Dangote Flour Mills and NASCON Allied, all listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), making him the largest individual investor on the bourse.