Dangote Makes History, Becomes First African to Enter Top 25 Richest List

Alhaji Aliko Dangote, Nigerian business magnate and owner of the Dangote Group can’t just stop making money. His reported wealth now is $25 billion from $16.1 billion in 2013 and enough to help him break into the rank of top 25 richest people in the world.

He is like the most famous King Midas, popularly remembered in Greek mythology for his ability to turn everything he touched with his hand into gold.

According to the recently released Forbes Magazine lists of the richest people in the world, Dangote now occupies 23rd position in the list of the world’s richest people.

And for the fourth year running, Dangote also retained his position in Africa as the richest man on the continent.

Dangote who was number 43 on the top 100 world billionaires list in 2013 made a quantum leap as he moved up 20 spots to retain his position in Africa.

According to Forbes, the Africa’s richest man is looking beyond cement, sugar and flour–the three commodities that built his fortune–to the oil business.

In April, he announced $9 billion in financing from a consortium of local and international lenders to construct a private oil refinery, fertilizer and petrochemical complex in the country.

His publicly traded Dangote Cement is also grabbing new markets in Africa, with $750 million in new plants planned for Kenya and Niger.

He made his first fortune more than three decades ago when he started trading commodities with a loan from his powerful uncle.

Elsewhere, Mike Adenuga was next to Dangote on the lists with a wealth of $4.6 billion, maintaining 325 positions in the world, while Folorunsho Alakija with $2.5 billion was 687 in the world and Abdulsamad Rabiu ranks 1,372 in the world with $1.2 billion.

But Bill Gates came back on top after a four-year hiatus, reclaiming the title of world’s richest person from telecom mogul Carlos Slim Helu of Mexico, who ranked No. 1 for the past four years.

Gates, whose fortune rose by $9 billion in the past year, has held the top spot for 15 of the past 20 years.

Spanish clothing retailer, Amancio Ortega (best known for the Zara fashion chain), retains the No. 3 spot for the second year in a row, extending his lead over Warren Buffett, who is again No. 4.

The year’s biggest dollar gainer was Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, whose fortune jumped from $15.2 billion, to $28.5 billion, as shares of his social network soared. Tech. and more specifically, Facebook, helped propel numerous fortunes lately.

The company’s COO, Sheryl Sandberg, joins the ranks for the first time, as does Facebook’s longtime Vice President, Jeff Rothschild. Also, thanks to a $19 billion deal (including restricted stock) with Facebook, WhatsApp founders, Jan Koum and Brian Acton, join the ranks of Silicon Valley’s wealthiest for the first time. 
They are four of 26 newcomers whose fortunes come from technology, 10 of whom are American, including Dropbox CEO, Drew Houston and Workday cofounder, Aneel Bhusri.

US once again leads the world with 492 billionaires, as a result of the tech boom, and strong stock market, then followed by China with 152 and Russia with 111. But wealth is spreading to new places.

Also for the first time in the history of Forbes rating, billionaires were found in Algeria – Issad Rebrab, who is into food business, with $3.2bn worth; Rostam Azizi from Tanzania with $1 billion and Sudhir Ruparelia from Uganda with $1.1 billion worth of assets.