“Hidden” billionaires of Africa – may number close to 200

Aliko Dangote, President and Chief Executive of the Dangote Group speaks during the final session of the World Economic Forum on Africa meeting in Cape Town June 6, 2008. PHOTO/Mike Hutchings

The black economy is very big

Africa may have as many as 200 “hidden” billionaires operating in the unofficial economy who will seek to legitimize their wealth in the future, investor Mark Mobius said.

“There is a lot of hidden wealth,” Mobius, who oversees more than US$40 billion as executive chairman of Templeton Emerging Markets Group, said yesterday in London. “You hear about Dangote but there are maybe 200 with the same kind of resources that we do not see. The black economy is very big.”

Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, is benefiting from the continent’s economic growth, adding US$3 billion to his wealth this year, taking him to US$13 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Africa’s gross domestic product is forecast to expand an average 6 percent a year for the next five years if Europe, the largest trading partner, records 0 percent to 2 percent annual growth, Moody’s Investors Service said today.

Dangote controls Dangote Group, one of the continent’s largest conglomerates with publicly traded businesses in cement, sugar, flour and salt that make up about a third of the Nigerian Stock Exchange’s market value. Many of the continent’s richest individuals don’t have publicly traded assets, Mobius said.

“What we see is that these very wealthy people will begin to want to legitimize their wealth by a listing, by putting these assets together, forming a company, listing it,” Mobius told reporters yesterday. “Many of these people escaped to London or other countries in order to preserve their wealth. But it is going to get more and more difficult because of anti- bribery and all the rest that is going on in the U.S. and other parts of the world.”

Source: Bloomberg Businessweek