Dangote remains Africa’s Richest while Bill Gates remains World Richest

Africa’s biggest entrepreneur, Aliko Dangote of Nigeria, is still the richest black person in the world despite having lost close to $10 billion since March last year
on account of falling stock prices of his four publicly-listed companies and a recent devaluation of the naira.
The 2015 FORBES list of the World’s Billionaires puts the estimated fortune of the manufacturing tycoon at $15.7 billion.
Dangote, 57, initially made his fortune trading in cement, sugar and flour but subsequently ventured into manufacturing these commodities. His crown jewel, Dangote Cement, is the largest manufacturer of cement in Africa and has a market capitalization of $15 billion. Dangote is also building an oil refinery that will be completed in 2016. It is expected to have a refining capacity of 400,000 barrels a day and reduce Nigeria’s dependence on oil imports.
Of the 1,826 people who made it to the 2015 FORBES list of the World’s Billionaires, 11 are black, up from nine a year ago.
Second to Dangote in the list of richest black people is Saudi-Ethiopian construction magnate Mohammed Al-Amoudi, who is worth $10.8 billion.
This year, two new moguls join the ranks of the richest black people on earth. They are American basketball legend Michael Jordan and Nigerian energy magnate Femi Otedola. Angolan investor Isabel dos Santos, American media mogul Oprah Winfrey and Nigerian oil woman Folorunsho Alakija are still the only black female billionaires on the FORBES billionaires list.

This is also as Bill Gates has retained his title as the world’s richest person. The fortune of the Microsoft co-founder grew $3.2 billion since last year to $79.2 billion, according to Forbes’ list of 2015’s richest people.
Gates has held the title for 16 of the past 21 years.
The magazine said there is now a record 1,826 billionaires with an aggregate net worth of $7.05 trillion. The figure topped 2014’s record-breaking $6.4 trillion sum by $650 billion.
The list included 290 newcomers, 71 of whom are from China.
Also in the top five are Mexican entrepreneur Carlos Slim Helu ($77.1 billion), American investor Warren Buffett ($72.7 billion), Spanish fashion mogul Amancio Ortega ($64.5 billion) and Oracle Corporation founder Lanai Larry Ellison ($54.3 billion).
At $33.4 billion, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg moved up five spots to number 16, his first time ranking among the world’s 20 richest.
Arguably the most renowned newcomer in the list is basketball legend Michael Jordan, with a net worth of $1 billion.
Most of Jordan’s wealth comes from his Nike subsidiary – Brand Jordan – and his stake in the NBA team Charlotte Hornets, according to Forbes.
Anadolu Agency (AA). Photo of Bill Gates and Aliko Dangote