Dangote, Adenuga among World’s Richest Men

It is now official; Alhaji Aliko Dangote, Nigeria’s business mogul and Otunba Mike Adenuga, owner of Nigeria’s second national carrier are among the richest men in the world.

Dangote and Adenuga are ranked 43rd and 267th respectively on the richest men list on earth according to the 2013 list of world’s billionaires, compiled by Forbes Magazine.

Dangote with assets from his cement, sugar, flour and other businesses is said to worth $16.1 billion and that also puts him as number one in Nigeria and Africa.

The Africa’s richest man jumped 33 steps from the previous ranking when he was placed at 76 on the richest men list in the world.

At a time most companies are shrinking, Dangote, 55, had an eventful 2012, as he sold off a controlling stake in his flour milling company to Tiger Brands of South Africa.

He pocketed $190 million in cash.

In February, his Dangote Sugar Refineries acquired a 95 per cent stake in Nigerian sugar producer Savannah Sugar in a bid to maintain its dominant position in the Nigerian sugar industry.

Dangote stepped up his philanthropy in the past year, giving over $100 million to causes ranging from education to health, flood relief, poverty alleviation and the arts.

He also acquired a yacht, which he named after his mother Amiya.

The second Nigerian on the list is Adenuga, 59 and one of the most enterprising Nigerian.

He owns Globacom , Conoil and some stake in Sterling Bank Nigeria.

He founded Globacom in 2006 and  has 24 million customers in Nigeria, operates in the Republic of Benin and recently acquired licences to start businesses in Ghana and the Ivory Coast.

His Conoil Producing is one of Nigeria’s largest independent exploration companies, with a production capacity of 100,000 barrels of oil per day.

But overall, on the Forbes list Mexico’s Carlos Slim, who has taken a hit from the slump in the share price of his America Movil telecoms group since the list was calculated as of February 14, remained the richest person with a fortune of $73 billion, and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates held on to the No. 2 spot with a net worth of $67 billion.

Spain’s Amancio Ortega, the co-founder of the Inditex fashion group, leapt over Warren Buffett and France’s Bernard Arnault to become the world’s third richest person on Forbes’ 2013 annual ranking of billionaires, with an estimated net worth of $57 billion.

Ortega’s fortune increased $19.5 billion, the biggest gain for any of the billionaires, from the report in 2012.

He jumped two places and bumped Buffett, chairman and chief executive of conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway Inc, with a fortune of $53.5 billion out of the top three to the No. 4 spot for the first time since 2000.

“Warren had a great year, it’s just that Amancio Ortega had a better year,” Forbes magazine editor Randall Lane said of the co-founder of Zara. “He has one of the dominant apparel lines in Europe.”

Arnault, of the LVMH luxury goods group, dropped to 10th place with $29 billion.

Slim, 73, made much of his fortune in telecommunications but also branched out into retail, commodities, finance and energy.