Black people’s achievement in the field of Arts, Culture, and Politics is well known throughout history however their business feats are rarely discussed.
In today’s world, Black businessmen and women have demonstrated that it is indeed possible to overcome obstacles and despite the odds, they can achieve financial freedom.
Age, geographic locations are not the hindrance for these Black billionaires who are less than 1% of overall billionaires across the world. They have made their fortune in different business verticals like Media, Entertainment, Private equity, and Investments.
According to Forbes, there are more than 2,755 billionaires in the world as of 2022, out of which just 15 of them are black.
Top 10 Richest Black Billionaires in the World 2022
If you are eager to know who they are and from which country do they belong then read our today’s article about the world’s top black billionaires as of 2022.
1. Aliko Dangote
Networth: $11.5 billion
Country: Nigeria
Aliko Dangote is undoubtedly the richest black billionaire from Nigeria in 2022 who is consistently topping the list for the last 8 years. Aliko is also the wealthiest person in the African continent with a net worth of $11.5 Billion. He is the founder and chairman of Africa’s largest cement manufacturing company – Dangote Cement.
Aliko Dangote owns a majority stake of 85% in the Dangote cement plc which is listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. Dangote cement with a capacity of 10.25 million tonnes per year is one of the largest private-sector employers both directly and indirectly.
Aliko is an ethnic Hausa Muslim born in the year 1957 to Mohammed Dangote and Mariya Sanusi Dantata. Dangote group started as a small trading firm in 1977 to import and sell agricultural commodities in Nigeria. Aliko has a financial interest in the salt and sugar manufacturing sector as well. Dangote is one of the board members of the Corporate Council on Africa.
2. Mike Adenuga
Networth:Â $6.1 billion
Country: Nigeria
Mike Adenuga ranks second in the list of the world’s Black billionaires who hail from Nigeria. He is estimated to be worth approximately $6.1 billion. His company Globacom is the second-biggest telecom company in Nigeria. He is also a major shareholder in the Equitorial Trust Bank and Conoil which is an oil exploration company.
Mike who was born in the year 1953 worked as a taxi driver to save money for his higher studies. He did his graduation from Oklahoma-based Northwestern Oklahoma State University and MBA from New York-based Pace University. He made his first million by selling lace and soft drinks. Mike later diversified into Telecom and Oil sector. He was awarded African Entrepreneur of the Year in 2007.
3. Robert Smith
Networth:Â $6 billion
Country: United States
Robert Frederick Smith is the third richest Black billionaire with an estimated net worth of $6 Billion. He is chairman and CEO of private equity firm Vista Equity Partners which was founded by him 20 years ago in 2000. Vista Equity Partners has investments dedicated exclusively to software companies and it received more than $46 billion of funding in 2019. Smith was awarded as Private Equity International’s Game Changer of the Year in 2016.
Smith was born in the year 1962 in Denver, Colorado. He specialized in chemical engineering from Cornell University and completed his master’s in Business Administration from Columbia University with dual specialization in finance and marketing. He worked in different companies in the initial stage of his career and decided later to start a business in the world of private equity and investments.
Smith has delivered consistent returns of more than 30 percent CAGR for his investors for almost 20 years according to Black Enterprise Magazine. Smith shot to the limelight in 2019 when he announced to pay off all the outstanding debts of all students of Morehouse College during his felicitation for an honorary doctorate.
4. Abdul Samad Rabiu
Networth: $4.9 billion
Country: Nigeria
Abdul Samad Isyaku Rabiu is one of the richest people in Nigeria and the fourth richest Black billionaire whose net worth is $4.9 billion. He is the founder and chairman of BUA Group. BAU group is a big business conglomerate with interests in manufacturing, cement production, infrastructure, and real estate. Abdul is chairman of the Nigerian Bank of Industry which is one of the oldest financial institutions in Nigeria.
Abdul was born in the year 1960 in Nigeria. He graduated from Ohio-based Capital University and returned back to Nigeria to look after his family business. In 1988, he started BUA International Limited primarily to focus on commodity trading. The company imported daily grocery items like rice, edible oil, flour. BAU later expanded to construction-related materials like iron and steel, iron ore, millets before diversifying into constructing multiple rolling mills.
A few years later Abdul acquired Nigeria’s largest edible oil processing company Nigerian Oil Mills Limited. In the year 2008, BAU limited started commissioning the second-largest sugar refinery plant in the sub-Saharan Africa region.
5. David Steward
Networth: $3.7 billion
Country: United States
David Steward ranks fifth in the list of black billionaires with a net worth of $3.7 billion. He is the founder and chairman of IT provider World Wide Technology (WWT). According to TIME magazine publication, his entrepreneurial success is because of his father’s encouragement and experience as a salesman.
David was born in the year 1951 in Chicago to Harold Steward & Dorothy. Steward faced extreme poverty and discrimination in his childhood. “I vividly remember segregation—separate schools, sitting in the balcony at the movie theater, being barred from the public swimming pool,” recollected David.
He completed his graduation from Central Missouri State University. He started his career as a Production Manager, Sales representative, Accountant in different companies before founding WWT in 1990. World Wide Technology, Inc. is a privately-held technology company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. The company generated $13.4 billion in revenue for 2021 and has 7,000 employees working across the globe.
6. Patrice Motsepe
Networth: $2.9 billion
Country: South Africa
Patrice Tlhopane Motsepe is a South African mining billionaire businessman with a net worth of $2.9 billion. He is the founder as well as the executive chairman of African Rainbow Minerals. The company has a business interest in ferrous metals, base metals, and precious metals like gold and platinum.
Patrice was born in 1962 in Pretoria, South Africa, and completed his graduation in law from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.
7. Oprah Winfrey
Networth: $2.7 billion
Country: United States
Media mogul Oprah Gail Winfrey ranks seventh in the list of black billionaires with a net worth of $2.7 billion. Oprah Winfrey started her career as a news anchor and her famous talk show “The Oprah Winfrey Show”, used to garner the highest ratings which was the world record in its category.
She was North America’s first black multi-billionaire and also featured in the most influential woman in the world in 2007. Oprah was born in 1954 in extreme poverty in rural Mississippi to a housemaid single teenage mother. In an interview, she stated that in her childhood she was molested and became pregnant when she was a teenager. She had a premature baby boy who died in infancy.
Oprah started working in a local grocery store when she was a teenager and she won the Miss Black Tennessee beauty pageant at the age of 17. Oprah Winfrey was the first black news anchor and also the youngest at Nashville’s WLAC-TV. She is now Chairwoman as well as CEO of Harpo Productions. Also, she is the Chairwoman, CEO, and CCO of the Oprah Winfrey Network.
8. Alex Karp
Networth: $2.1 billion
Country: United States
Alex Karp is the co-founder and CEO of the software firm Palantir Technologies which specializes in big data analytics.
Karp completed his bachelor’s degree from Haverford College in Pennsylvania in the year 1989 and a Juris Doctor (JD) degree from Stanford University in the year 1992. He then finished his Dr. Phil. degree in neoclassical social theory from Goethe University (Germany) in 2002.
Karp received an inheritance from his grandfather which he invested in a few startups and stocks. Karp is also the founder of the London-based money management firm Caedmon Group. He along with his Stanford classmate, Peter Thiel co-founded Palantir technologies in 2004.
9. Kanye West
Networth: $1.8 billion
Country: United States
Kanye Omari West is an American rapper and fashion designer with a net worth of $1.8 billion.
He was born in 1977 in Atlanta and raised in Chicago. West sold more than 160 million records which makes him one of the world’s best-selling music artists. He has won a record 22 Grammy Awards.
10. Rihanna
Networth: $1.7 billion
Country: Barbados
Rihanna who is a Barbadian singer, actress, fashion designer, as well as a businesswoman made her way to the billionaire’s list in 2021. She is now the richest female musician in the world as well as the second-richest female entertainer in the world, the first being Oprah Winfrey. As per Forbes estimates, Rihanna’s net worth is $1.7 billion which includes a major contribution coming from her Fenty Beauty cosmetics company amounting to $1.4 billion.
The remaining part of her wealth attributes to her Savage X Fenty lingerie company contributing around $270 million and the earnings she makes from her music as well as acting in films. Rihanna has introduced her beauty brand Fenty Beauty in 2017 by collaborating with the French luxury goods company LVMH.
Hope you found this article informative!Â
