· Africa’s richest billionaire crashes in global ranking
Aliko Dangote is not invincible after all. The Chairman of Dangote Group and Africa’s former richest billionaire, like the proverbial yo-yo, is manipulable and subject to the whim of gravity and the arbitrary string of fate.
Following the crash of the naira, Dangote has dropped off the list of the 100 richest people in the world. Before his unfortunate crash down the ladder of the world’s richest men, Dangote was the 51st richest man in the world – as at March 2016. But recent estimates show that he has dropped to the 101st position as at the start of business last Monday.
However, Dangote, who owns the second largest sugar-refinery in the world, remains richer than Donald Trump, American billionaire and presidential candidate, and Oprah Winfrey, American TV personality, who is also acknowledged as the second richest black woman in the world.
Dangote is now worth $11.1 billion, while Trump and Oprah are estimated at $4.5 billion and $3.1 billion, respectively.
The naira’s fall against the dollar, from about N198 to about N300 has eroded about a quarter of Dangote’s wealth as he commits to investing heavily in Africa’s largest economy, Nigeria. At the launch of the new foreign exchange regime on June 23, 2016, Dangote fell from 46 on the world billionaire list to 71, and has continued in that manner with the naira plunge.
According to Bloomberg Billionaires estimates, Dangote, who was worth $15.4 billion (N3.05 trillion) in March, is now worth $11.1 billion (N3.3 trillion).
However, the launch of Dangote refinery, allegedly the biggest green field refinery in the world, billed for 2018/2019, is expected to propel him to the world’s richest top 20 by 2019.
