NIGERIA TOP THE LISTS OF 55 AFRICA BILLIONAIRES

Aliko Dangote

With 20 billionaires, Nigeria has becaome the country with the highest number of Billionaires in Africa. Africa now has 55 billionaires, far more than previously thought.

They include three women - the mother of Kenya's president, a daughter of Angola's president and a Nigerian oil tycoon and fashion designer.

Investigation revealed that the richest man is Nigeria's Aliko Dangote, with a fortune of $20.2bn (£12.5bn).

The list is likely to reignite debate about inequality between rich and poor people in Africa, correspondents say.

In April, the World Bank said the number of people living in extreme poverty in Africa had risen in the past three decades from 205 million to 414 million.

Folorunsho Alakija

However, a  report earlier this month by research group Afrobarometer suggested that economic growth in Africa was primarily benefiting a small elite.

The 55 billionaires it has identified are more numerous than the 16 super rich Africans listed by US financial magazine Forbes last year.

It was able to identify dozens more billionaires by using "on-the-ground knowledge" to overcome hurdles that may have "hampered" other researchers, Ventures said.

It was estimated that the 55 billionaires' combined fortunes at $143.88bn, an average of a $2.6bn per person.

Isabel Dos Santos

Of the 55, 20 are Nigerian, nine are South African and eight are Egyptian, Ventures said.

The richest woman is Nigeria's Folorunsho Alakija, who made her $7.3bn fortune mainly in the country's oil industry, it added.

She also studied fashion in London and made dresses for Maryam Babangida, the late wife of Nigerian military ruler Ibrahim Babangida.

Isabel Dos Santos, an Angolan investor and the eldest daughter of Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, together with Ngina Kenyatta, the mother of Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta, also made the cut, it added.

Ventures listed Harvard-trained businessman Allan Gray as South Africa's richest man, with a fortune of $8.5bn.

"This media-shy South African moneyman controls two investment companies that collectively manage over $50bn in assets," Ventures said.

Nathan Kirsh, a property tycoon in the tiny kingdom of Swaziland, also made it on the list.

He is worth $3.6bn, and has business interests in London and New York.