African Billionaires: Allies or Obstacles to Sovereignty?

African Billionaires: Allies or Obstacles to Sovereignty?

In July 2025, Oxfam released a report with a headline that should have caused riots:

Four African billionaires hold more wealth than 750 million people—half the continent's population.

Aliko Dangote, Johann Rupert, Nicky Oppenheimer, and Nassef Sawiris together control $57.4 billion. Meanwhile, 850 million Africans—more than at any point in history—are going hungry.

So here's the uncomfortable question this article will try to answer:

Are Africa's billionaires building the continent toward sovereignty? Or are they symptoms of the same extractive system that keeps Africa poor?

The answer, as you'll see, is complicated.

Africa's Billionaire Class: The Numbers

In 2000, Africa had zero billionaires.

By 2025, the continent has 22 billionaires with a combined net worth of $105 billion—up from $82.4 billion in 2024.

The Top 10 African Billionaires (2025)

Countries with the most billionaires (Africa-resident): South Africa (7), Egypt (5), Nigeria (4), Morocco (3)

Note on Nigeria: Forbes counts 4 Nigerian billionaires residing in Africa. Including Nigerian-born billionaires in the diaspora (Adebayo Ogunlesi and Tope Awotona, both USA-based), the total is 6 Nigerian billionaires globally.

Notable absences: Kenya, Ethiopia, and the rest of East Africa have no resident billionaires on the Forbes list. Neither does any Francophone West African country.

The Case for African Billionaires

Before we sharpen the pitchforks, let's acknowledge what some of Africa's wealthiest are actually building.

Aliko Dangote: The Industrialist

Dangote is the richest Black person on Earth and has been Africa's wealthiest for 14 consecutive years.

But here's why he matters for sovereignty:

The Dangote Refinery opened in 2024 outside Lagos. At 650,000 barrels per day, it's the largest single-train refinery in the world.

Why this matters:

• Nigeria, Africa's largest oil producer, has historically exported crude oil and imported refined fuel

• Nigerian crude went to Rotterdam, got refined, and came back as expensive petrol

• Nigerians paid premium prices for their own oil

• Foreign exchange bled out of the country

The Dangote Refinery changes this. In September 2024, it started producing petrol domestically. By late 2025, it's expected to run entirely on Nigerian crude as export contracts expire.

Nigeria is now exporting refined petroleum products to Cameroon, Angola, Ghana, and South Africa.

According to OPEC, the refinery has significantly reduced Nigeria's reliance on European petroleum imports.

And Dangote isn't stopping there. In October 2025, he announced plans to double capacity to 1.4 million barrels per day—which would make it the largest refinery in the world.

The sovereignty argument: Dangote is doing what African governments have failed to do for decades—process African resources on African soil.

Strive Masiyiwa: The Connector

Zimbabwe's only billionaire (though his fortune dropped 33% in 2025 after Zimbabwe's currency reform) built his wealth differently.

Strive Masiyiwa founded Econet Wireless after a five-year legal battle against Robert Mugabe's government, which refused to grant him a telecoms license. He won in Zimbabwe's Constitutional Court—a ruling that helped break state telecom monopolies across Africa.

What he built:

• Liquid Intelligent Technologies: Africa's largest fibre optic network—110,000+ kilometers connecting Cape Town to Cairo

• Africa Data Centres: The continent's largest network of interconnected data centers

• Cassava Technologies: AI, cloud, cybersecurity, and fintech infrastructure

In September 2025, Masiyiwa announced a $720 million plan to build Africa's first network of AI factories, powered by NVIDIA GPUs, with deployment expected by late 2026.

His argument: "Africa must be a producer of solutions, not just a consumer of technologies developed elsewhere."

Beyond business:

• His Higherlife Foundation has funded 350,000+ scholarships for African youth

• He served as African Union Special Envoy for COVID-19 vaccine procurement

• He sits on the boards of the Gates Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Netflix, and Unilever

• He's pledged to give away half his wealth through the Giving Pledge

The sovereignty argument: Masiyiwa is building the digital infrastructure Africa needs to compete in the 21st century—and keeping it African-owned.

Patrice Motsepe: The First Black African Billionaire

Motsepe made history in 2008 as the first Black African to appear on Forbes' billionaire list.

A mining magnate who founded African Rainbow Minerals, he's expanded into:

• Banking (stake in Sanlam)

• Sports (owns Mamelodi Sundowns; President of Confederation of African Football)

• Investment (African Rainbow Capital, focused on African investments)

In 2013, Motsepe became the first African to sign the Giving Pledge, committing to donate half his wealth.

The sovereignty argument: Motsepe represents Black ownership of African resources—a stark contrast to the foreign-dominated mining sector.

The Case Against African Billionaires

Now for the uncomfortable part.

The Oxfam Indictment

The July 2025 Oxfam report, "Africa's Inequality Crisis and the Rise of the Super-Rich," presented damning statistics:

• Four billionaires hold more wealth than 750 million Africans

• The richest 5% of Africans hold nearly $4 trillion—more than double the combined wealth of the remaining 95%

• Billionaire wealth grew 56% in five years while extreme poverty soared

• Seven in ten people living in extreme poverty globally are now in Africa (up from one in ten in 1990)

• 850 million Africans are food insecure—20 million more than in 2022

The Crony Capitalism Problem

Here's where it gets uncomfortable.

An Al Jazeera analysis in August 2025 was blunt:

"Dangote exemplifies Africa's most prominent and wealthiest oligarch, demonstrating how proximity to political power can create controversial paths to fortune."

The critique focuses on how many African billionaires built wealth:

Dangote and Government Policy:

• Dangote Cement benefited from Nigeria's Backward Integration Policy (BIP), which banned cement imports to protect domestic producers

• Between 2010-2015, Dangote Cement reportedly paid an effective tax rate of less than 1% on profits of approximately ₦1 trillion (~$6 billion at 2015 rates)

• Critics argue the BIP created monopolistic conditions that allowed prices to remain high while competition was blocked

The result: Nigerians pay some of the highest cement prices in the world despite having one of Africa's largest cement producers.

Motsepe and Political Connections:

• Motsepe is the brother-in-law of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa

• Critics, including economist Moeletsi Mbeki, argue his wealth reflects crony capitalism rather than broad-based entrepreneurship

• South Africa's Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) policies have been criticized for enriching a small elite while most Black South Africans remain poor

The broader pattern: A 2015 Columbia University study found that wealth accumulated by politically connected oligarchs has a strongly negative impact on economic growth, while fortunes of unconnected billionaires have little effect.

The Tax Question

African governments collect just 0.3% of GDP in wealth taxes—the lowest rate globally.

Compare that to:

• Asia: 0.6%

• Latin America: 0.9%

• OECD countries: 1.8%

Oxfam estimates that a modest wealth tax on African millionaires and billionaires could raise $66 billion annually—enough to close funding gaps for free quality education and universal electricity access.

Meanwhile:

• 75% of African billionaire wealth is held offshore

• The continent loses an estimated $14 billion annually in uncollected tax revenue from wealthy individuals

• $88 billion leaves Africa each year in illicit financial flows

The question isn't whether African billionaires exist. It's whether they're paying their fair share to build the societies that enabled their success.

The Deeper Question: What Kind of Capitalism?

The billionaire debate forces us to confront a harder question:

What kind of capitalism does Africa need?

Option 1: Extractive Capitalism

The current model for many African economies:

• Foreign companies extract resources

• Profits flow offshore

• A small local elite benefits from proximity to the extraction

• Minimal value-added locally

• Weak institutions allow wealth concentration

Result: Billionaires emerge, but the system remains extractive. The wealth comes from position rather than innovation.

Option 2: Productive Capitalism

The model Africa needs:

• Resources processed locally

• Value chains kept on the continent

• Competition prevents monopolies

• Strong institutions enforce fair taxation

• Wealth comes from building rather than extracting

Grading Africa's Billionaires

Let's evaluate the major players on a sovereignty scale:

Aliko Dangote

Building or extracting? Building, but with caveats.

The refinery is genuinely transformative. Processing Nigerian crude domestically is exactly what sovereignty requires.

But: the cement business benefited from import bans that kept prices high for Nigerian consumers. The effective tax rates raise questions about who benefits.

Sovereignty grade: B+ — Transformative infrastructure, but benefits from protected markets.

Strive Masiyiwa

Building or extracting? Building.

Fibre networks, data centers, AI infrastructure, scholarships—Masiyiwa is building the connective tissue Africa needs. His wealth comes from creating systems, not extracting resources.

Sovereignty grade: A — Building infrastructure Africa controls.

Johann Rupert

Building or extracting? Extracting.

Rupert's wealth comes from Richemont, which owns Cartier, Montblanc, and other luxury brands. This is European luxury goods—not African development.

Sovereignty grade: D — Wealth from global luxury, not African building.

Patrice Motsepe

Building or extracting? Complicated.

Mining is inherently extractive, but African ownership matters. His philanthropy and commitment to African investment through African Rainbow Capital suggest genuine commitment.

But the political connections raise questions.

Sovereignty grade: B- — African ownership of African resources, but political proximity concerns.

Nicky Oppenheimer

Building or extracting? Extracting.

The Oppenheimer fortune comes from De Beers and diamonds. This is classic extraction—African gems sold to global markets with wealth concentrated in few hands.

Sovereignty grade: D — Colonial-era extraction patterns continued.

What Africa Actually Needs

Neither uncritical celebration nor reflexive condemnation helps Africa.

Here's what would:

1. More Dangote Refineries

Africa needs productive investment in infrastructure that keeps value on the continent. More refineries. More processing plants. More manufacturing.

The problem isn't that Dangote built a refinery. The problem is that it took a private billionaire to do what governments should have done decades ago.

2. Fair Taxation

Billionaires should exist in societies with:

• Functioning public schools

• Reliable electricity

• Working hospitals

• Social safety nets

When billionaire wealth grows while public services collapse, something is broken.

African governments must close offshore loopholes and enforce wealth taxes. The rich benefited from African resources; they should pay for African development.

3. Competition, Not Monopoly

Protected markets create billionaires. Competitive markets create prosperity.

Import bans that allow cement prices to remain high benefit one man while hurting millions. Industrial policy should build capacity, not protect monopolies.

4. Breaking Political Capture

When the path to wealth runs through political connections, capital flows to lobbying rather than innovation.

Strong, independent institutions that enforce contracts and prevent corruption create environments where entrepreneurs can build without needing a president's phone number.

5. More Masiyiwas

Africa needs billionaires who build infrastructure—digital, physical, financial—that benefits the broader economy.

Fibre networks enable a million small businesses. Data centers allow African startups to compete. Payment systems include the previously unbanked.

This kind of wealth creation expands the pie rather than just taking a larger slice.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is the richest person in Africa?

Aliko Dangote of Nigeria is Africa's richest person with a net worth of $23.9 billion (Forbes 2025). He has held this position for 14 consecutive years. His wealth comes from Dangote Cement and the newly operational Dangote Refinery.

How many billionaires are in Africa?

As of 2025, Africa has 22 billionaires with a combined net worth of $105 billion. South Africa has the most (7), followed by Egypt (5), Nigeria (4), and Morocco (3). In 2000, Africa had zero billionaires.

What is the Dangote Refinery?

The Dangote Refinery is a 650,000 barrel-per-day oil refinery in Lagos, Nigeria—the largest single-train refinery in the world. It began producing fuel in 2024 and is transforming Nigeria from a fuel importer to an exporter. Expansion plans could increase capacity to 1.4 million barrels per day.

Is African billionaire wealth good or bad for the continent?

It depends on how the wealth was created and what it's used for. Billionaires who build productive infrastructure (like refineries or telecom networks) contribute to sovereignty. Those who benefit from extraction, monopolies, or political connections without building may deepen inequality. The key issues are fair taxation, competition, and investment in public goods.

Who is Strive Masiyiwa?

Strive Masiyiwa is a Zimbabwean billionaire (approximately $1.2 billion in 2025, down 33% after Zimbabwe's currency reform) who founded Econet Wireless. He built Africa's largest fibre optic network and data center network. His foundations have funded over 350,000 scholarships for African youth, and he has pledged to donate half his wealth.

The Bottom Line

Africa's billionaires are neither saviors nor villains. They're products of the systems they operate in.

In a system designed for extraction, even well-intentioned billionaires will benefit from extraction.

In a system designed for production, billionaires would emerge from building—and their success would lift others.

The question isn't whether to have billionaires. It's whether African societies are structured so that:

1. Billionaire wealth comes from building rather than extracting

2. That wealth is fairly taxed to fund public goods

3. Competition prevents monopolistic capture

4. Institutions prevent political capture

5. The existence of billionaires correlates with rising prosperity, not rising poverty

Right now, African billionaire wealth is growing while poverty deepens. That's not a model for sovereignty—it's a model for instability.

The goal isn't fewer African billionaires. It's African billionaires whose success actually means something for the 1.4 billion people who share their continent.