Three Nigerians were among the 2460 individual billionaires on Forbes magazine’s list of the wealthiest people in the world as of 2023.
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Aliko Dangote, the president and chief executive of the Dangote Group, AbdulSamad Rabiu, the chairman of the BUA Group, and Mike Adenuga, the CEO of Globacom, are the three Nigerians on the list.
The list, which was released on Tuesday and includes 2460 unique billionaires worldwide, has a few surprises, according to Forbes.
This, it claimed, is especially true now that many of the richest people in the globe have been experiencing rising interest rates, wounded unicorns, and declining stock prices over the past year.
According to Forbes, the cumulative wealth of the world’s top 25 earners is now $2.1 trillion, down from $2.3 trillion in 2022 by a total of $200 billion.
Forbes reports that luxury goods billionaire Bernard Arnault’s net worth increased by $53 billion to $211 billion since last year, a larger increase than anybody else on earth, propelling him to the top rank for the first time in history due to the rise in the value of the shares of his firm, LVMH.
Elon Musk, who had previously held the title of richest person in the world, had dropped to second when his value was decreased by $39 billion as a result of his acquisition of the social messaging service, Twitter.
The rise of Mr. Rabiu, head of the BUA Group, from $7.6 billion a few months ago to $8.2 billion to become the 249th richest person in the world, according to Forbes, is one of the surprises noted in this year’s rankings.
With this, the billionaire businessman and philanthropist’s ranking on the Forbes billionaires list has once more risen sharply, and he is now just $8.4 billion away from passing Nicky Oppenheimer as the third richest person in Africa.
Mr. Rabiu’s net worth increased from $1.6 billion in 2019 to $6.9 billion in 2022, according to Forbes, and then increased again to $8.2 billion in April 2023.
The 62-year-old BUA chairman primarily deals in sugar, cement, and real estate. He is currently constructing the second-largest refinery and petrochemicals plant in sub-Saharan Africa in Akwa Ibom, Nigeria.
According to Forbes, Mr. Dangote continued to hold the title of richest person of African heritage in the world.
The 62-year-old BUA chairman primarily invests in sugar, cement, and real estate. He is also constructing the second-largest refinery and petrochemicals plant in sub-Saharan Africa. According to Forbes, his wealth is predicted to be around $14.2 billion based on the most recent reports issued on Tuesday after rising to $14 billion in 2022.
Mr. Dangote was ranked as the 125th richest person in the world as a result, and he easily dominates the African cement industry. The entrepreneur is also involved in other industries, such as manufacturing, sugar, and pastry.
According to Forbes, Mr. Adenuga, the third-ranked Nigerian on the list of African billionaires, saw his wealth decline from $7.3 billion in 2022 to $6.1 billion.
He has reportedly moved up and down the list of the richest people over the past two years, and at 58, he is currently ranked 418th.
“These are the only three Nigerians that made the list,” Forbes added.
The 90-year-old Nathan Kirsh from the tiny African nation of Swaziland is another unexpected name on the list.
He is now reportedly worth $6.5 billion, surpassing Mr. Adenuga to take the sixth spot among African billionaires.
According to Forbes, Mr. Kirsh is thought to be involved in real estate, retail, and fashion, and this is the first time an African billionaire has been mentioned.
Forbes claims that their list of the “World’s Billionaires” represents a snapshot of wealth based on stock prices and exchange rates as of 10 March, noting that some people see wealth fluctuations within a few days of the list’s release.
Although including riches owned by a billionaire’s spouse and children if that person is the founder of the fortune, the magazine stated that it “lists individuals rather than multigenerational families who share fortunes.”
For non-founders, it stated that while they had occasionally included families and couples together in the past, this year they split these shared fortunes into distinct list members, denoted as “split family fortune.”
According to Forbes, the wealth of Russian billionaires was estimated using ownership structures dating back to February 2022, before Russia invaded Ukraine and before many of them transferred assets to managers, acquaintances, and other people in an effort to shield their holdings from sanctions.
“We value a variety of assets, including private companies, real estate, art and more. We don’t pretend to know each billionaire’s private balance sheet (though some provide it). When documentation isn’t supplied or available, we discount fortunes,” Forbes noted.
