Seven people from Forbes’ 2014 list of Africa’s 50 Richest fell off the list in 2015, so to speak.
“Poor” is a very strong word.
Stock drops, sinking oil prices and downward-facing currencies were among the culprits for some of Africa’s richest getting a little less rich, Forbes reports. In fact, even the wealthiest on the continent who are still on the list for 2015 lost a little — or a lot — relatively speaking.
In 2015, $330 million was the minimum net worth needed to make the Forbes list of Africa’s 50 Richest compared to $510 million in 2014.
Here are 7 African millionaires who fell off the Forbes 50-Richest-Africans list in 2015.
Desmond Sacco, South Africa
Estimated current worth: $200 million
Mining tycoon Sacco fell off the list of richest Africans shares prices fell 70 percent drop in of Assore Group over the past year. Assore has a 50 percent stake in Assmang Limited, which operates seven mines producing chrome, manganese and iron. He serves as its chairman.
In 2015, Assore agreed to buy African Rainbow Minerals’ 50-percent indirect interest in the Dwarsrivier Chrome Mine in South Africa.
Sacco is a fellow of the Institute of Directors and the Geological Society of South Africa. He lives in Johannesburg.
Ahmed Ezz, Egypt
Estimated current worth: $230 million
Ezz is a significant shareholder of publicly traded Egyptian firm Ezz Steel, one of the largest steel manufacturers in the Middle East. The company’s shares fell in the past year. Ezz served as chairman of ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s political party, and was charged with corruption during the 2011 revolution. He served three years in jail and was released in 2014 after paying fines
Ezz was forced to step down from his post as chairman of Ezz Steel, but his holding company Ezz Group is still a shareholder in the company.
An Egyptian court recently upheld a decision to disqualify Ezz from running in parliamentary elections scheduled for October and November this year, according to local Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi opposed Ezz’s candidacy, fearful that figures from the ousted Mubarak regime would return to power, according to Alaraby.
Oba Otudeko, Nigeria
Oba Otudeko, chairman of Nigerian conglomerate Honeywell Group, has seen the value of his shares in publicly listed financial services conglomerate FBN Holdings and Honeywell Flour Mills fall 35 percent and 30 percent since 2014. He sold his minority share in the Nigerian operations of Bharti Airtel two years ago.
He won an award from EY award given to entrepreneurs who demonstrate excellence and extraordinary success in areas such as innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities.
Presenting the award, Ernst and Young Regional Managing Partner for West Africa, Henry Egbiki, noted that winners were chosen based on the critical factors of value creation, wealth management and employment generation among other things.
EY said Otudeko had created value and a motivated workforce.
Otudeko is considered a visionary entrepreneur with successful domestic and foreign investments that cut across diverse sectors of the economy.
He has been chairman of First Bank of Nigeria, FBN Bank (U.K.) Limited, Airtel Nigeria and Fan Milk of Nigeria. He has also served on the boards of Central Bank of Nigeria, Guinness Nigeria, British American Tobacco and Togo-based Ecobank.
Tunde Folawiyo, Nigeria
Folawiyo is the CEO of the Yinka Folawiyo Group, a Nigerian conglomerate with interests in energy, agriculture, oil exploration, insurance and real estate. He’s a major shareholder of MTN Nigeria, the country’s largest mobile telecoms provider, which was recently hit with a $5.2 billion fine for failing to disconnect the lines of more 1 million unregistered mobile phone users in Nigeria. His shares in Access Bank, a Nigerian commercial bank, took a beating since 2014 and the drop in oil prices reduced the value of assets owned by the Folawiyo Group.
Folawiyo doesn’t like being in the limelight, according to NationalMirror. In 2013, he was No. 50 on the Forbes Africa rich list, and in 2014, he was at No. 39. He is the first son of Yinka Folawiyo, the late billionaire, business guru and philanthropist.
Hakeem Belo-Osagie, Nigeria
Belo-Osagie is the chairman of the Nigerian operations of U.A.E. mobile telecom firm Etisalat. New information regarding the shareholding structure of Etisalat Nigeria, dwindling profits and the company’s huge debt profile have cut Belo-Osagie’s fortune by more than half since last year, Forbes reports.
Chairman of Nigerian-based United Bank for Africa from 1988 to 2004, he experienced the difficulties of building a multinational financial institution active in multiple African countries, according to HBS. Belo-Osagie learned to navigate local regulations in Nigerian banking while building global competitiveness. He had to reduce staff when the operations were privatized, and experienced the difficulties Nigerian entrepreneurs and business leaders faced in the early 2000s trying to overcome the stigma associated with the country due to online fraud activity.
Reginald Mengi, Tanzania
Mengi is still Tanzania’s most influential media mogul, but a weak advertising sales, falling commodity prices and devalued Tanzanian shilling took a toll in the print and electronic media — and his fortune. Mengi’s IPP Group is one of the largest conglomerates in Tanzania and East Africa with interests in mining, Coca-Cola bottling and media, Forbes reports.
Born into a family of modest means, he was able to get an education in the UK. Returning to Tanzania in 1971, he got a job with Coopers & Lybrand which became PriceWaterHouseCooper. By 1989 he had become its chairman and managing partner, then started his own companies.
He is founder and executive chairman of the IPP Group, which includes 11 newspapers, two TV stations and three radio stations.
Strive Masiyiwa, Zimbabwe
Masiyiwa is the controlling shareholder of publicly-listed mobile telecom Econet Wireless Zimbabwe. New taxes were imposed on the company and revenues declined since 2014, pushing down the share price more than 63 percent.
Econet has been laying off workers and in June reportedly cut the salaries of workers by 35 percent. A devout Christian, Masiyiwa has a plan. He plans to list his U.K.-based broadband group Liquid Telecoms on a European Stock Exchange — a move that could significantly boost his dwindling fortune. Liquid has operations across Africa.
Masiyiwa recently received awards in New York, including one from the U.N. Foundation recognizing his philanthropy.
He was honored for his efforts to fight the Ebola outbreak in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone. Masiyiwa responded to the African Union call for African businesses to act on any African situation that threatened the entire region.
Source: AFK Insider
