South Africa overtakes Nigeria in dollar billionaires’ wealth

• Number of Nigerian billionaires rises but net worth falls

By Mary Adenike

South Africa saw the wealth of its dollar billionaires surpass that of their Nigerian counterparts last year, according to a new report. 

MarketsReporters’ analysis of the latest Billionaires Ambitious report shows the combined wealth of Nigerian billionaires fell to $26.7 billion from $28.5 billion in 2023 while South Africans increased their fortunes to $29.4 billion from $26.7 billion, 

The report by UBS, a multinational investment bank and financial services company, also revealed that the number of billions in Nigeria and South Africa rose by one each to four and six respectively.

The number of billionaires in Egypt was unchanged at four, but their fortunes increased 11.9 percent to $15.1 billion. 

Analysts say the devaluation of the Nigerian naira significantly impacted the wealth of billionaires in the country. The naira has lost more than 70 percent of its value against the dollar following two sharp devaluations since July 2023. 

Most of the country’s billionaires’ businesses that center around manufacturing and telecommunications have significant foreign currency-denominated expenses, which currency weakness has pushed up. This has impacted the overall valuation of their companies and, consequently, the billionaires’ wealth.

READ MORE: Africa’s richest man Dangote loses $1.1bn in one month 

“The businesses of the top tier performers have been affected by the macroeconomic conditions in Nigeria. Some sectors like manufacturing and telecommunications have suffered from FX losses. Few sectors like banking have seen FX gains,” Temitope Omosuyi, investment strategy manager at Afrinvest Limited, said.

Last year, Femi Otedola, chairman of Geregu Power, returned to Forbes Africa’s billionaires list with a net worth of $1.4 billion. He joined Aliko Dangote, Abdulsamad Rabiu, and Mike Adenuga.

“All of that gain can be attributed to the return of Otedola, who last appeared on the Forbes Africa list in 2017 when he held a controlling stake in fuel distributor Forte Oil,” Forbes said.

On a global scene, the number of billionaires grew to 2,682 from 2,544, and their worth increased to $14 trillion from $12 trillion. In 2015, their total wealth stood at $6.3 trillion.

“This year’s new billionaires were mainly self-made. People becoming billionaires for the first time numbered 268, with 60 percent of them entrepreneurs. That reverses the position in last year’s report when most new billionaires were multi-generational billionaires inheriting money,” the USB report said.

It added that in the next 10 years, billionaires face an uncertain world and that governments must balance fiscal rectitude with mounting spending requirements, not least those associated with aging populations. 

“At the same time, geopolitical tensions will remain high, with ongoing barriers to international trade. Against this backdrop, billionaire entrepreneurs will need the distinctive traits that we identified as key to their success in a previous issue of this report: smart risk-taking, business focus, and determination.”