The year 2021, although marred by the COVID-19 pandemic just like 2020, delivered impressive wealth gains for African billionaires, and also multimillionaires on the continent.
These impressive gains can be linked to the robust financial performance of these tycoons’ assets and the companies that are directly and indirectly linked to them.
While billionaires like Mohammed Al-Amoudi, who controls a collection of industrial assets in Sweden, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and Morocco, and Abdul Samad Rabiu the founder and owner of one of Nigeria’s leading cement makers, both recorded a net-worth loss of about US$1 billion in 2021, other African billionaires like South Africa’s richest man Johann Rupert and Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote recorded wealth gains of more than US$1 billion for the year.
Research conducted by Billionaires.Africa revealed that four of the 20 Africans with a net worth of over US$1 billion recorded a wealth bump of at least US$1 billion in 2021.
Here is how these billionaires performed.
#1 Johann Rupert
Net worth: US$11.9 billion
Wealth gains in 2021: US$3.88 billion
Johann Rupert became the richest man in South Africa in 2021 thanks to a bump in the value of his stake in the Swiss luxury goods holding company, Compagnie Financiere Richemont S.A. (Richemont).
Rupert, who is the chairman of Richemont and Remgro Limited, an investment holding based in South Africa, recorded a staggering net-worth gain of US$3.88 billion for the year through his stakes in Remgro and Richemont.
Sustained buying interest in the shares of these companies for the year led to a double-digit surge in their valuation, causing the market value of his positions in the companies to increase.
As a result, his net worth soared from US$8.02 billion on 31 December 2020 to US$11.9 billion on 31 December 2021.
This translates to a US$3.88-billion gain for the billionaire in 2021.
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