Femi Otedola joins Dangote, Adenuga and Abdulsamad Rabiu on Forbes 2024 billionaires’ list

Femi Otedola, chairman of Geregu Power, has been ranked the 20th richest person in Africa by Forbes.

The publication listed Otedola with a fortune of N1.1 billion, as the fourth Nigerian to make the list of Africa’s top 20 richest people in 2024.

According to Forbes, the fortunes of Africa’s wealthiest people have rebounded slightly in the past 12 months, reversing the decline in their fortunes from a year ago, though they are still off their all-time highs.

It said the 20 billionaires have a combined wealth of $82.4 billion, up $900 million from $81.5 billion in 2023.

The gain, Forbes said, can be attributed to the return of Otedola, who last appeared on the list in 2017 when he held a controlling stake in Forte Oil now Ardova Plc.

“Otedola phased out his oil investments during a government push to privatize the country’s energy business in 2013, using a Forte subsidiary to purchase Geregu, a public power generation plant,” the publication said. 

“He owned about 90% of Geregu when it was listed on the Nigerian exchange’s Main Board in 2022, but has since sold shares to institutional investors, which include Afreximbank’s Fund for Export Development in Africa and the State Grid Corporation of China. 

His 73% stake in Geregu is worth more than $850 million, about three-quarters of his $1.1 billion fortune, which puts him at No. 20 on the list.” 

After taking Otedola’s comeback into account, Forbes said Africa’s billionaires dipped slightly but fared better than the 4 percent drop in 2023 when African stock markets sank in tandem with global equity values.

“This year, African equities joined a late-year global rally, with the S&P All Africa index rising 10% in the final two months of 2023 but still ended down more than 9% in the 12 months through January 8, 2024.” 

In the ranking, South Africa claimed six spots, followed by Egypt with five and Nigeria accounting for four.

List of top 20 richest people in Africa

Aliko Dangote — $13.9 billion 

Johann Rupert & family — $10.1 billion 

Nicky Oppenheimer & family — $9.4 billion 

Nassef Sawiris — $8.7 billion

Mike Adenuga  — $6.9 billion 

Abdulsamad Rabiu — $5.9 billion 

Naguib Sawiris — $3.8 billion 

Mohamed Mansour — $3.2 billion 

Koos Bekker — $2.7 billion 

Patrice Motsepe — $2.7 billion 

Issad Rebrab & family — $2.5 billion 

Mohammed Dewji — $1.8 billion

Strive Masiyiwa — $1.8 billion  

Aziz Akhannouch & family — $1.7 billion

Othman Benjelloun & family – $1.4 bilion 

Youseff Mansour — $1.3 billion 

Yassen Mansour — $1.2 billion 

Christoffel Wiese — $1.2 billion

Michiel Le Roux — $1.1 billion 

Femi Otedola — $1.1 billion