Nigeria’s wealthiest businessmen, Aliko Dangote, Mike Adenuga, Abdulsamad Rabiu and Femi Otedola have emerged as the only Nigerians on the 2025 ‘Africa’s Billionaires List’ compiled by Forbes, which was released on Saturday.
Again, Dangote topped the list for the 14th year in a row with an estimated net worth of $23.9 billion, up from $13.9 billion a year ago. The big jump in his fortune was primarily due to Forbes adding the value of his refinery.
The Dangote Group operates in diverse sectors, including cement, sugar, flour, salt, seasoning, pasta, beverages, real estate, and has projects in oil & gas and fertilizer.
On the other hand, Adenuga who was 5th on the list, had $6.8 billion in his kitty during the period under consideration, while Rabiu was worth $5.1 billion. Adenuga runs the Pan-African telecommunications business, Globacom, while Rabiu owns the BUA Group with interest in cement, sugar, oil, among others.
Nigerian business mogul and philanthropist, Otedola, emerged the 16th richest person in Africa on the Forbes list, with his wealth surging by over 30 per cent in the last one year.
In the new list, Forbes stated that Otedola’s wealth hit $1.5 billion during the period, with the rate of increase in total wealth coming behind Johann Rupert of South Africa, whose wealth grew 39 per cent.
A prominent Nigerian businessman, Otedola has established and led several companies across various sectors and has many notable enterprises associated with his name.
Checks showed some of them as Geregu Power Plc, the first electricity-generating company in Nigeria to be listed on the Nigerian Exchange in October 2022, where he serves as the Chairman.
Among others, he is also the Chairman of First Holdco Plc, formerly FBN Holdings Plc, a financial holding company that acts as the parent company for a diversified group of financial services businesses, including commercial banking, merchant banking, capital markets, trusteeship, and insurance brokerage, operating across Africa.
An unrelenting philanthropist, Otedola has been a significant supporter of Save the Children, donating billions of Naira and becoming a Vice President in recognition of his efforts to improve the lives of children in Nigeria. Save the Children is an organisation that works to improve the lives of vulnerable children worldwide.
“Another billionaire whose fortune grew more than 30 per cent (was) Femi Otedola of Nigeria ($1.5 billion), chairman of listed power generation firm Geregu Power Plc. Shares of Geregu surged some 40 per cent in the past year following a jump in revenue and profits,” the Forbes report added.
Forbes list tracks the wealth of African billionaires who reside in Africa or have their primary business there. Forbes said net worths were calculated using stock prices and currency exchange rates from the close of business on March 7, 2025.
Stressing that net worth changes were measured from Forbes’ 2024 African billionaires list, published in January 2024, Forbes stated that to value privately held businesses, it starts with estimates of revenues or profits and applies prevailing price-to-sale or price-to-earnings ratios for similar public companies.
In the same vein, the report noted that the cumulative wealth of Africa’s billionaires surpassed $100 billion for the first time ever as the continent’s 22 billionaires saw their fortunes rise to a total of $105 billion, up from $82.4 billion and 20 billionaires last year.
South Africa had the largest number of billionaires this year, with seven, followed by four from Nigeria and four from Egypt.
