{{There are far more African billionaires than previously thought, Ventures magazine said Monday in a report on the continent’s mega-rich, but the number of Africans living in extreme poverty has also shot up.}}<\/p>\n
Previous Africa-rich-lists named as few as 16 billionaires, but Ventures said its exhaustive research had identified at least 55 on a continent where the wealthy often fiercely protect details about their fortunes.<\/p>\n
The pan-African business magazine said it was able to uncover dozens of new billionaires by using “on-the-ground knowledge” to overcome hurdles that may have “hampered” other researchers.<\/p>\n
Of the 55, 20 are Nigerian, including several oil barons, while South Africa and Egypt boast nine and eight respectively.<\/p>\n
Ventures’ supported reports by Forbes which listed Nigeria’s Aliko Dangote as Africa’s richest man with a fortune of $20.2 billion (15 billion euros).<\/p>\n
Dangote, who made his fortune in cement, heads a multi-interest empire, profiting from products including flour and sugar, while eyeing a massive investment in oil refining.<\/p>\n
The continent’s richest woman is Nigeria’s Folorunsho Alakija, whose Fama Oil owns an offshore oil block, which she acquired in 1993 “at a relatively inexpensive price”, likely through a helpful connection, the magazine said.<\/p>\n
Alakija studied fashion in London, then made dresses for Maryam Babaginda, the late wife of Nigerian military dictator Ibrahim Babaginda.<\/p>\n
The former designer “is believed to have ridden on the crest of this relationship to acquire an oil block,” off the Niger Delta in southern Nigeria, said Ventures.<\/p>\n
The most prominent South African named is Nicky Oppenheimer, worth an estimated $6.5 billion, whose fortune came largely from the diamond mines his family controlled for decades, which were operated by De Beers. Oppenheimer sold his family’s stake in De Beers two years ago.<\/p>\n
‘Under-estimate’<\/p>\n
The figure of 55 is “actually an under-estimate” of Africa’s billionaires, Chi-Chi Okonjo, the founder of Ventures, told news agency AFP.<\/p>\n
“People are not comfortable disclosing their wealth,” he said.<\/p>\n
Corruption is rife on the continent and the rule of law still unevenly applied. African business moguls often face accusations that their fortunes were illegitimately earned, including with extra-legal help from political patrons.<\/p>\n
The apparently rising number of ultra-rich Africans has come amid broader economic growth on the continent, which has seen an average of five per cent GDP expansion since 2010.<\/p>\n
But economic growth has not kept up with a rising population.<\/p>\n
“There are more than twice as many extremely poor people living in sub-Saharan Africa today (414 million) than there were three decades ago (205 million),” the World Bank said in April.<\/p>\n
It is the only region where “the number of poor people individuals has risen steadily and dramatically,” over the last 30 years, the bank said.<\/p>\n
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