7 African Real Estate Billionaires You Should Know
The growth of Africa’s billionaires is indicative of the dynamic economic transformation and development potential inside the continent.
Africans are getting recognition for a lot lately, from sports to music to fashion and affluence. The continent has its issues, but it also has a lot of positives. Cities are expanding across Africa, raising the demand for commercial and residential real estate in prime locations.
According to Statista, as of 2021, South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, Morocco, and Kenya are the top five African countries in terms of private wealth accumulation, with $651 billion, $307 billion, $228 billion, $125 billion, and $91 billion held by individuals in the form of cash, properties, and business interests, respectively. Africa is growing, with more people becoming millionaires and billionaires by the day, some from the continent’s striving luxury real estate market.
The billionaires have accumulated enormous wealth and continue to invest a significant proportion of their wealth into the continued development of luxury residential and commercial projects, contributing to the continent’s expanding economic might.
In this article, we take a look at 7 African billionaires who, even though their fortunes may have been built in a variety of sectors, have benefited immensely from the growth of the African real estate market.
Nicky Oppenheimer
Nicky Oppenheimer is South Africa’s second richest man. It would be ridiculous to have a list of African billionaires involved in real estate, without mentioning Nicky Oppenheimer. He was once the deputy chairman of Anglo-American and also served as the chairman of the De Beers diamond mining corporation and its subsidiary, the Diamond Trading Corporation. His estimated net worth is $9.45 billion. Some of his notable high-end properties in luxury real estate are the Brenthurst Estate in Johannesburg, South Africa; Le Cigare Estate in the Stellenbosch wine region of South Africa; and a chalet in Verbier, Switzerland.
Oppenheimer acquired these properties through his family’s diamond business, De Beers. In 2012, he sold a 40% stake in De Beers to Anglo American for $5.1 billion. This gave him a significant amount of capital to invest in other assets, including real estate.
Oppenheimer’s private equity company, Tana Africa Capital, oversees his real estate ventures. Tana Africa Capital engages in residential and commercial real estate projects in Africa. The company has funded initiatives in Nigeria, Kenya, Botswana, and South Africa.
Mohamed Mansour
Entrepreneur, philanthropist, and well-known business leader, Mohamed Mansour is reportedly worth around $3.6 billion. He is the younger brother of Youssef Mansour, talk about a family of billionaires; and chairman of Man Funding LLP, a family office investment firm with London-based offices that provides long-term funding and strategic support to businesses and organizations in a range of industries internationally.
Mansour has made investments in several well-known projects in Egypt and the Middle East since he has a significant interest in luxury real estate. In the UK, Mansour is a long-term investor; his family office, ManCapital, is the second largest shareholder in Caffe Nero, a coffee business with about 9,000 employees in the United Kingdom.
In 1975, Mansour established General Motors dealerships in Egypt, and he later rose to become one of the company’s top distributors globally. Additionally, the Mansour Group is solely responsible for distributing Caterpillar equipment in Egypt and seven other African nations.
Patrice Motsepe
This list of African billionaires involved in real estate will not be complete if we do not mention Patrice Motsepe. Patrice Motsepe, a South African billionaire businessman who is the chairman of African Rainbow Capital, entered the luxury real estate market in 2016 by purchasing a 20% share in Val de Vie Investments. This company is growing a prestigious residential development in the Western Cape. African Rainbow Capital established ARC Real Estate in partnership with the Buffet KLT consortium in 2017, intending to provide financing and services to real estate entrepreneurs and corporations.
His estimated net worth is reportedly around $2.4 billion, and in 2019, he acquired a 20% stake in the V&A Waterfront, a major mixed-use development in Cape Town; in 2020, he bought a majority stake in the Modderfontein Estate, a large agricultural property in Gauteng; and in 2021, he announced plans to develop a new luxury hotel in Sandton, Johannesburg. And then bought a prominent premium wine vineyard called Hidden Valley, located between Stellenbosch and Somerset in South Africa, for $5+ million.
He is also the founder of the Motsepe Foundation, a charitable organization founded in 1999 to help the poor and marginalized in society. According to the foundation’s website, it was founded on the philosophy of “ubuntu”, an African idea of caring for those around you, the community, and giving.
Youssef Mansour
Egyptian-born Youssef Mansour is a renowned businessman who has a net worth of about $1.5 billion, according to Forbes. He was born into a wealthy family that was heavily involved in businesses and was the owner of the Mansour Group, the world’s most successful General Motors dealership and a major distributor of Caterpillar equipment in Egypt and across the African continent.
He is also a major real estate investor and the man behind Egypt’s largest grocery chain, Metro. His holdings, particularly those in the publicly listed real estate development business Palm Hills Developments, suffered as a result of the Egyptian revolt in early 2011 but have since recovered.
Palm Hills is one of Egypt’s most well-known real estate companies. It has an impressive portfolio of current projects and a good reputation. Youssef Mansour, who is said to be the fifth richest man in Egypt, spends a lot of his time these days running the family foundation, which is focused on providing education for underprivileged Egyptians.
Anas Sefrioui
Anas Sefrioui is the CEO of the publicly traded homebuilder Douja Promotion Groupe Addoha (ADH), the biggest property developer in Morocco, and a real estate tycoon. The primary goal of Groupe Addoha’s real estate endeavours is to construct affordable housing for Moroccans. Sefrioui, according to Forbes, has a net worth of over $1.6 billion.
He has obtained a good number of government contracts over the years to develop affordable houses in Morocco. Anas Sefrioui has had a profound effect on the availability of homes in Morocco as a result of his leadership and government contracts.
Naguib Sawiris
Naguib Sawiris is a billionaire businessman, as is his brother Nassef, from Egypt. Sawiris served as the CEO and chairman of Orascom Telecom Holding and Orascom Investment Holding S.A.E. before becoming chairman of Weather Investments.
According to Forbes, Sawiris has a net worth of $3.3 billion and was born on June 15, 1954. Successful businessman Naguib Sawiris enjoys investing in real estate. An illustration of this is the initiative he presented in Dubai four years ago regarding the well-known tourist destination of Ayia Napa, which will include opulent apartment buildings, grand homes, a private harbour, and a mall. He also plans to build tourists their private beaches, an initiative that would cost 195 million euros. In addition to a 120-room estate in Cairo, Sawiris also owns a resort in Mykonos, Greece, and a penthouse in Manhattan.
Mohammed Dewji
Mohammed Dewji, a prominent Tanzanian politician, businessman, and esteemed billionaire, is estimated to possess a substantial net worth of $1.5 billion. Mohammed Dewji currently holds the position of Chief Financial Officer at the MeTL Group, an organization that was initially founded by his father. The MeTL Group is a prominent Tanzanian conglomerate with diverse interests across several industries. These include mobile telecommunications, real estate, agriculture, banking, insurance, manufacturing, food and beverage, and transport and logistics.
He served as a Member of Parliament, representing the Singida district, for a period of ten years during his political tenure. Mohammed Dewji owns a bunch of estates in Dar es Salaam! Dar es Salaam used to be just a small fishing village, but now it’s become this huge city and bustling port on Tanzania’s Indian Ocean coast.
The strategic investments in real estate and infrastructure made by Mohammed Dewji have played a pivotal role in the transformation of Tanzania’s urban landscape. The organization has successfully undertaken the construction of residential as well as commercial projects, thereby contributing to the overall economic growth of the nation and generating employment opportunities.
In conclusion, Africa’s evolving economic landscape and potential for growth are reflected in the rise of its billionaires. The individuals have contributed to the growth of the continent through their investments in various sectors of the economy, including the real estate market. Each of these billionaires’ stories is a monument to their foresight and entrepreneurial enthusiasm, from Nicky Oppenheimer’s smart use of revenues from his diamond company to support his real estate endeavours to Patrice Motsepe’s dedication to magnificent projects that merge perfectly with Africa’s terrain.
Business tycoons such as Mohamed Mansour, Youssef Mansour, Anas Sefrioui, Naguib Sawiris, Aziz Akhannouch, and Mohammed Dewji have redesigned cities, made housing more accessible, and built recognizable landmarks that serve as metaphors for development and sophistication. These billionaires are examples for young real estate entrepreneurs to follow as the real estate market in Africa continues to grow at an astounding rate.
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