Nigerian Moguls Shine at Forbes’  2019 Annual Midas Parade

John Kenneth Galbraith, an important 20th century Canadian economist, once said that the true character of capitalism is its unpredictability. You never can tell when it will soar or when it will take some lumps or beating.

In this year’s Forbes’s list of billionaires, there is a marked decline in fortunes, owing to different reasons. In the midst of these, many Africans still made the list, among them four outstanding Nigeria’s business moguls.

According to the list,  there are 2,153 billionaires, 55 lesser  than a year ago. Of those, a record 994, or 46%, are poorer (relatively speaking) than they were last year. In total, the ultra-rich are worth $8.7 trillion, down $400 billion from 2018. Altogether 11% of last year’s list members, or 247 people, dropped out of the ranks, the most since 2009 at the height of the global financial crisis.

Despite the gloomy and frightening statistics of poverty that has been recorded in Nigeria, which according to World Poverty Clock has reached 81 millions, some outstanding Nigerians have managed to stay afloat ,and also made global name as successful.  Forbes recently released its 2019 list of the world’s billionaires and it is impressive to note that a number of black people also clinched top spots on the list.

Among the outstanding Africans on the list are four Nigerians. The list featured popular Nigerian business moguls, Aliko Dangote, Mike Adenuga , Abdulsamad Rabiu, and Folorunso Alakija.

Aliko Dangote Dangote maintains  his title as the world’s richest black man this year with an estimated fortune of $10.9 billion. He began his business career  more than three decades ago by trading in commodities like cement, flour and sugar with a loan allegedly received from his maternal uncle and went on to build the Dangote Group, the largest industrial conglomerate in West Africa. He is also set to launch a private oil refinery in Nigeria which will have a refining capacity of 6500,000 barrels a day and is expected to reduce the country’s dependence on oil imports.

Mike Adenuga

Mike Adenuga is next in line to Adenuga  as the world’s second richest black person with an estimated fortune of $9.1 billion. He built his fortune in oil and mobile telecoms. His Conoil producing company was one of the first indigenous Nigerian companies to be granted an oil exploration license in the early 90s. He is also the sole owner of Globacom, a Nigerian mobile phone network with more than 40 million subscribers in Nigeria and neighboring African countries.

Abdulsamad Rabiu

Abdulsamad Rabiu came number three  as the third Nigerian after Adenuga, with an estimated fortune of $1.6 billion. He is the founder of BUA Group, a Nigerian conglomerate with interests in sugar refining, cement production, real estate, steel, port concessions, manufacturing, oil gas and shipping. BUA Group’s annual revenues are estimated at over $2 billion. He got into business by working for his father, Isyaku Rabiu, a successful businessman from Nigeria’s northern region. He struck out on his own in 1988 importing rice, sugar, edible oils as well as steel and iron rods.

Folorunsho Alakija

Folorunsho Alakija,  is Nigeria’s first female billionaire and the founder of Famfa Oil, also made the list with an estimated fortune of $1.1 billion. She also made the Forbes’s billionaires list.

Below are names of the 13 richest black people on earth ,who have made their fortunes in diverse fields.

Aliko Dangote – Nigerian ($10.9 billion)

Mike Adenuga – Nigerian ($9.1 billion)

Robert Smith – American ($5 billion)

David Steward – American ($3 billion)

Oprah Winfrey – American ($2.5 billion)

Strive Masiyiwa – Zimbabwean ($2.4 billion)

Isabel Dos Santos – Angolan ($2.3 billion)

Patrice Motsepe – South African ($2.3 billion)

Michael Jordan – American ($1.9 billion)

Michael Lee-Chin – Canadian ($1.9 billion)

Abdulsamad Rabiu – Nigerian ($1.6 billion)

Folorunsho Alakija – Nigerian ($1.1 billion)

Mohammed Ibrahim – Sudanese-British ($1.1 billion)

Source: Forbes’ list of the World’s Billionaires in 2019,which has 2,153 people.