Despite black people being few among the world’s billionaires, they are notable – including the amazing Michael Jordan, who became the world’s first billionaire athlete. Here are the top five richest black people alive today.
Aliko Dangote – $14.1 billion
Every year The Forbes publishes their Billionaires List including a special report on black billionaires – who make up just 11 out of the 2,043 billionaires recorded in 2018’s list. Nigerian business mogul Aliko Dangote tops the list with $14.1 billion, making him the richest black person in Africa and around the globe. Although he comes from wealth, he has carefully built his empire from the ground up, leading the Dangote Group he founded in 1977. The company was initially focused in producing cement, but soon turned to manufacturing at home and branched out into sugar and salt refining, flour milling and packaging, among others, and owning its own flour mills and salt factories. The group is a leader in Nigeria’s food and beverages industry, with diversified investments in transport, real estate, oil, gas, textiles and banking.
Mike Adenuga – $5.3 billion
Mike Adenuga, affectionately nicknamed the “Guru” within his vast professional and social network, is not only the second richest black man but a fellow Nigerian, too. He started off in the oil industry, before expanding into the telecom, real estate, banking, and construction industries. According to Forbes, the telecom company he built, Globacom, is the biggest contender to the country’s leading operator, MTN, providing services to over 30 million subscribers, while he owns more property than any other individual in Nigeria and Ghana. His journey is exciting: He made his first million at the age of 26, which is significantly lower than 32, the average age of winners according to Betway.com’s research, and well before he had spent 13 years in his industry, which is the average time according to the same source. Before that, being the son of a businesswoman and a school teacher with limited means, Adenuga used to work as a taxi driver in New York to support himself during his MBA studies at Pace University.
Robert F. Smith – $4.4 billion
The first American on the list, Robert Smith was well into his fifties when he left his career with Goldman Sachs to establish his very own private equity and venture capital firm, Vista Equity Partners. The company that he started in 2000 has since grown to more than 280 employees and holds $31 billion in managed assets. Beyond his business, he is also very active in charity and philanthropy – having served on the Board of Trustees of the Carnegie Hall since 2013, he was recently elected as Chairman of the Board.
Oprah Winfrey – $2.7 billion
Oprah Winfrey, the undeniable queen of all media, particularly talk show and daytime TV, hardly needs any introduction. The Forbes results came out in March 2018, before Oprah struck her $1 billion deal with Apple to produce original content that raised her fortune to a total of roughly $4 billion and made her the first black woman to land on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index – which means that her place in next year’s list will probably be even higher. Born to a teenage single mother and raised in poverty, Oprah rose to prominence through her hit talk show aptly called The Oprah Winfrey Show. She has since launched her own TV channel called OWNand joined the legendary 60 Minutesnews magazine program as a special contributor.
Isabel Dos Santos – $2.6 billion
The second woman to make it to the top 5, Isabel Dos Santos is the daughter of Angola’s former President who ruled the country since 1979. She’s also the richest woman in Africa. Dos Santos has made a fortune in investments, most notably heading Sonangol, Angola’s largest and state-owned oil firm, and as a stakeholder in the telecom, finance and energy industries in both Angola and Portugal. However, she has lately fallen from grace, facing allegations of financial misconduct and nepotism, which she vehemently denies.
From industries ranging from construction and oil all the way to the entertainment world, black entrepreneurs and tycoons continue to surpass expectations and rise to the top of their game.
