Here are the ten richest Nigerians all based on the current ranking of Forbes Africa list.
1. Aliko Dangote
Age: 58
Net Worth: $16.7 billion
Source of Wealth: Cement, Sugar, Flour
The Dangote Group was established as a small trading firm in 1977. Today, it is a multi-trillion naira conglomerate with many of its operations in Benin, Ghana, Nigeria, and Togo. Dangote has expanded to cover food processing, cement manufacturing, and freight.
The Dangote Group also dominates the sugar market in Nigeria and is a major supplier to the country’s soft drink companies, breweries, and confectioners.
The Dangote Group has moved from being a trading company to being the largest industrial group in Nigeria and includes: Dangote Sugar Refinery, Dangote Cement, and Dangote Flour.
2. Mike Adenuga
Age: 62
Net Worth: $6.5 billion
Source of Wealth: Telecom, Oil
His company Globacom is Nigeria’s second-largest telecom operator and also has a presence in Ghana and Benin. He also owns stakes in the Equitorial Trust Bank and the oil exploration firm Conoil (formerly Consolidated Oil Company). His telecom company Globacom spread quickly and started challenging the giant MTN Group.
It launched services in Benin in 2008 and has continued its spread across Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire, with more licenses currently being prospected in other West African countries.
3. Folorunsho Alakija
Age: 65
Net Worth: $1.7 billion
Source of Wealth: Oil
She is a business tycoon involved in the fashion, oil and printing industries. She is the group managing director of The Rose of Sharon Group which consists of The Rose of Sharon Prints & Promotions Limited and Digital Reality Prints Limited and the executive vice-chairman of Famfa Oil Limited.
4. Femi Otedola
Age:53
Net Worth:$1.6 billion
Source of Wealth: Gas stations
Femi Otedola is a Nigerian businessman, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and chairman of Forte Oil Plc, an importer of fuel products. He is also the founder of Zenon Petroleum and Gas Ltd, and the owner of a number of other businesses across shipping, real estate, and finance.
5. Abdulsamad Rabiu
Age: 55
Net Worth: $1 billion
Source of Wealth: Cement, sugar, flour
Abdul Samad Rabiu established BUA International Limited in 1988 for the sole purpose of commodity trading. The company engaged in the importation of rice, edible oil, flour and iron and steel.
In 1990, the then Government owned Delta Steel Company contracted BUA to supply its raw materials needs, for which Bua was paid with finished products.
This provided the much-needed windfall for the young company. Bua further ventured into steel, billets and iron ore importation and supplying multiple rolling mills in the country.
Few years down the line, BUA acquired Nigerian Oil Mills Limited, the largest edible oil processing company in Nigeria and later set up 2 flour milling plants in Lagos and Kano in 2005.
By 2008, Bua broke an eight-year monopoly in the Nigerian sugar industry by commissioning the second-largest sugar refinery in sub-Saharan Africa.
The company went on the acquire a controlling stake in a publicly listed Cement Company of Northern Nigeria in 2009 and commenced to the construction of a $500 million cement plant in Edo State to be commissioned early 2015.
6. Theophilus Danjuma
Age: 77
Net Worth: $75o million
Source of Wealth: Oil
South Atlantic Petroleum (SAPETRO) is a Nigerian oil exploration and production company that was created in 1995 by General T. Y. Danjuma. The ministry of Petroleum Resources in Nigeria awarded the Oil Prospecting License (OPL) 246 to SAPETRO in February 1998.
7. Tony Elumelu
Age: 52
Net Worth: $700 million
Source of Wealth: Investments
In his early career, Elumelu acquired and turned Standard Trust Bank into a top-five player in Nigeria. In 2005, his corporate reputation as an African business leader was sealed when he led the largest merger in the banking sector in Sub-Saharan Africa to acquire United Bank for Africa (UBA). In five years, he transformed it from a single-country bank to a pan-African institution with over seven million customers in nineteen African countries.
Following his retirement from UBA in 2010, Elumelu founded Heirs Holdings, which invests in the financial services, energy, real estate and hospitality, agribusiness, and healthcare sectors. In the same year, he established the Tony Elumelu Foundation, an Africa-based and African-funded philanthropic organization dedicated to the promotion of excellence in business leadership and entrepreneurship and to enhancing the competitiveness of the private sector across Africa.
In 2011, Heirs Holdings acquired a controlling interest in the Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc (Transcorp), a publicly quoted conglomerate that has business interests in the agribusiness, energy, and hospitality sectors. Elumelu was subsequently appointed the chairman of the corporation.
8. Jim Ovia
Age: 62
Net Worth: $550 million
Source of Wealth: Banking
Jim Ovia is the founder of Zenith Bank, one of the largest commercial banks in Nigeria. He is the chairman and largest individual shareholder with a stake of slightly more than 9% stake. He also owns prime real estate across Nigeria, and mobile telecom operator Visafone, which has 3 million subscribers.
9. Mohammed Indimi
Age: 67
Net Worth: $500 million
Source of Wealth: Oil
Mohammed Indimi is the chairman and leading shareholder of Oriental Energy Resources, a privately held Nigerian oil exploration and production company he founded in 1990. Oriental currently has three projects offshore of Nigeria’s Niger Delta region. Six of his children serve on the company’s board. His net worth dropped from an estimated $670 million a year ago due to ongoing low oil prices.
10. Orji Uzor Kalu
Age: 56
Net Worth: $330 million
Source of Wealth: Diversified
Orji Uzor Kalu is the founder of Slok Holding, a West African conglomerate with interests in shipping, banking, oil trading, manufacturing and the media. He got his start in business at age 19 after being expelled from a Nigerian university for spearheading a series of student riots. He borrowed $35 from his mother and started trading commodities like palm oil, rice, and sugar.
He diversified into furniture manufacturing and transportation and became a millionaire by the time he was 20. He hit the big time in the early 80s when the Nigerian military government awarded him lucrative contracts to import and supply arms and ammunition to Nigeria’s military and defense forces. He was previously a governor of Abia state in Nigeria’s southeast.
1. Aliko Dangote
Age: 58Net Worth: $16.7 billion
Source of Wealth: Cement, Sugar, Flour
The Dangote Group was established as a small trading firm in 1977. Today, it is a multi-trillion naira conglomerate with many of its operations in Benin, Ghana, Nigeria, and Togo. Dangote has expanded to cover food processing, cement manufacturing, and freight.
The Dangote Group also dominates the sugar market in Nigeria and is a major supplier to the country’s soft drink companies, breweries, and confectioners.
The Dangote Group has moved from being a trading company to being the largest industrial group in Nigeria and includes: Dangote Sugar Refinery, Dangote Cement, and Dangote Flour.
2. Mike Adenuga
Age: 62Net Worth: $6.5 billion
Source of Wealth: Telecom, Oil
His company Globacom is Nigeria’s second-largest telecom operator and also has a presence in Ghana and Benin. He also owns stakes in the Equitorial Trust Bank and the oil exploration firm Conoil (formerly Consolidated Oil Company). His telecom company Globacom spread quickly and started challenging the giant MTN Group.
It launched services in Benin in 2008 and has continued its spread across Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire, with more licenses currently being prospected in other West African countries.
3. Folorunsho Alakija
Age: 65Net Worth: $1.7 billion
Source of Wealth: Oil
She is a business tycoon involved in the fashion, oil and printing industries. She is the group managing director of The Rose of Sharon Group which consists of The Rose of Sharon Prints & Promotions Limited and Digital Reality Prints Limited and the executive vice-chairman of Famfa Oil Limited.
4. Femi Otedola
Age:53Net Worth:$1.6 billion
Source of Wealth: Gas stations
Femi Otedola is a Nigerian businessman, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and chairman of Forte Oil Plc, an importer of fuel products. He is also the founder of Zenon Petroleum and Gas Ltd, and the owner of a number of other businesses across shipping, real estate, and finance.
5. Abdulsamad Rabiu
Net Worth: $1 billion
Source of Wealth: Cement, sugar, flour
Abdul Samad Rabiu established BUA International Limited in 1988 for the sole purpose of commodity trading. The company engaged in the importation of rice, edible oil, flour and iron and steel.
In 1990, the then Government owned Delta Steel Company contracted BUA to supply its raw materials needs, for which Bua was paid with finished products.
This provided the much-needed windfall for the young company. Bua further ventured into steel, billets and iron ore importation and supplying multiple rolling mills in the country.
Few years down the line, BUA acquired Nigerian Oil Mills Limited, the largest edible oil processing company in Nigeria and later set up 2 flour milling plants in Lagos and Kano in 2005.
By 2008, Bua broke an eight-year monopoly in the Nigerian sugar industry by commissioning the second-largest sugar refinery in sub-Saharan Africa.
The company went on the acquire a controlling stake in a publicly listed Cement Company of Northern Nigeria in 2009 and commenced to the construction of a $500 million cement plant in Edo State to be commissioned early 2015.
6. Theophilus Danjuma
Age: 77Net Worth: $75o million
Source of Wealth: Oil
South Atlantic Petroleum (SAPETRO) is a Nigerian oil exploration and production company that was created in 1995 by General T. Y. Danjuma. The ministry of Petroleum Resources in Nigeria awarded the Oil Prospecting License (OPL) 246 to SAPETRO in February 1998.
7. Tony Elumelu
Age: 52Net Worth: $700 million
Source of Wealth: Investments
In his early career, Elumelu acquired and turned Standard Trust Bank into a top-five player in Nigeria. In 2005, his corporate reputation as an African business leader was sealed when he led the largest merger in the banking sector in Sub-Saharan Africa to acquire United Bank for Africa (UBA). In five years, he transformed it from a single-country bank to a pan-African institution with over seven million customers in nineteen African countries.
Following his retirement from UBA in 2010, Elumelu founded Heirs Holdings, which invests in the financial services, energy, real estate and hospitality, agribusiness, and healthcare sectors. In the same year, he established the Tony Elumelu Foundation, an Africa-based and African-funded philanthropic organization dedicated to the promotion of excellence in business leadership and entrepreneurship and to enhancing the competitiveness of the private sector across Africa.
In 2011, Heirs Holdings acquired a controlling interest in the Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc (Transcorp), a publicly quoted conglomerate that has business interests in the agribusiness, energy, and hospitality sectors. Elumelu was subsequently appointed the chairman of the corporation.
8. Jim Ovia
Age: 62Net Worth: $550 million
Source of Wealth: Banking
Jim Ovia is the founder of Zenith Bank, one of the largest commercial banks in Nigeria. He is the chairman and largest individual shareholder with a stake of slightly more than 9% stake. He also owns prime real estate across Nigeria, and mobile telecom operator Visafone, which has 3 million subscribers.
9. Mohammed Indimi
Age: 67Net Worth: $500 million
Source of Wealth: Oil
Mohammed Indimi is the chairman and leading shareholder of Oriental Energy Resources, a privately held Nigerian oil exploration and production company he founded in 1990. Oriental currently has three projects offshore of Nigeria’s Niger Delta region. Six of his children serve on the company’s board. His net worth dropped from an estimated $670 million a year ago due to ongoing low oil prices.
10. Orji Uzor Kalu
Net Worth: $330 million
Source of Wealth: Diversified
Orji Uzor Kalu is the founder of Slok Holding, a West African conglomerate with interests in shipping, banking, oil trading, manufacturing and the media. He got his start in business at age 19 after being expelled from a Nigerian university for spearheading a series of student riots. He borrowed $35 from his mother and started trading commodities like palm oil, rice, and sugar.
He diversified into furniture manufacturing and transportation and became a millionaire by the time he was 20. He hit the big time in the early 80s when the Nigerian military government awarded him lucrative contracts to import and supply arms and ammunition to Nigeria’s military and defense forces. He was previously a governor of Abia state in Nigeria’s southeast.
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