‘Dangote Remains Richest Man In Africa’

Chairman/Chief Executive of Dangote Group of Companies, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, with a net worth of $16.1 billion, has retained his position as Africa’s richest man for the third consecutive year while ranking 43rd globally.

Dangote started building his fortune over three decades ago when he began trading in commodities like cement, flour and sugar with a loan he received from his maternal uncle.

Also, Mexican tycoon, Carlos Slim, Microsoft’s Bill Gates and Zara fashion house owner, Amancio Ortega of Spain, were yesterday announced as topping the Forbes list of the world’s wealthiest billionaires.

According to reports by Agence France Presse (AFP) and Reuters, Slim, who controls Latin American telecommunications firm, America Movil, and retail/industrial group, Grupo Carso, came in first among the mega-rich for the fourth straight year, with a fortune estimated at $73 billion, up $4 billion from a year ago.

Microsoft Chairman, Gates, a perennial top finisher in the list, placed second with $67 billion, up $8 billion from 2012. Ortega, whose Inditex fashion group includes the popular Zara chain, vaulted from the seventh position into the third spot. His wealth is now estimated at $57 billion, rocketing from $31 billion a year ago.

Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffett ranked fourth with $53.5 billion, while Oracle’s Larry Ellison is fifth with $43 billion.

Asia’s richest man, Li Ka-shing, came eighth with $31 billion. He owes his fortune to his sprawling transportation, trading and energy businesses. Forbes’s 2013 list of the world’s richest people includes 1,426 billionaires, a record number, with a total net worth of $5.4 trillion, up from $4.6 trillion in the previous ranking.