Nigerian philanthropist and entrepreneur, Mr. Femi Otedola, has returned to the Forbes Africa list of billionaires.

Otedola is now the 20^th richest African with $1.2 billion fortunes.

The businessman last appeared on the Forbes Africa list in 2017 when he held a controlling stake in fuel distributor Forte Oil.

Otedola made his first fortune in commodities before selling his shares in Forte Oil to invest in the energy business.

He also owns properties in Lagos, Dubai, London and Monaco, and holds shares in Zenith Bank and FBN Holdings. He is a director and single largest shareholder in First Bank of Nigeria.

He has just bought Dangote Cement shares worth N6 billion.

“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,” Forbes stated.

Meanwhile, Alike Dangote, whose fortune rose $400 million to $13.9 billion, claimed the ranking’s No. 1 spot for the 13th year in a row.

Otedola’s Geregu Power hits N1.07trn market capitalization

South African luxury goods magnate Johann Rupert held onto the No. 2 spot with $10.1 billion, down from $10.7 billion in 2023 as shares of his Compagnie Financiere Richemont–maker of Cartier watches and Montblanc pens – slid. South African Nicky Oppenheimer, who formerly ran diamond mining firm DeBeers before selling it to mining firm Anglo American a decade ago, ranks No. 3, with $9.4 billion, up $1 billion from 2023.

Mike Adenuga is second richest Nigerian and sixth richest African with a networth of $6.9 billion while Abdusamad Rabiu of BUA Group is the seventh richest African and third richest Nigerian with a networth of $5.9 billion.

The 20 billionaires on the 2024 Forbes list of Africa’s Richest are worth a combined $82.4 billion. That’s up $900 million from last year’s $81.5 billion.

This year South Africa claims six spots on the ranking, followed by Egypt with five and Nigeria with four. Algeria, Tanzania and Zimbabwe each have one billionaire on the list, while Morocco has two.

The Star