Top 10 richest women in Africa | Who makes the list?
Who are the richest women in Africa? What is their net worth? How do they arrive at such net worth?
Gone are the days where women sit back and wait for men to go out and fetch for the family. We are presently in a time where women are beginning to rule the world and attain greats heights.
You can see the top 10 richest men in Nigeria here.
African women especially are challenging the continent’s current state of affairs in a variety of areas. This includes business, politics, media, science, and technology. They are making footprints where none previously existed.
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Who are the top 10 richest women in Africa
In this article, we look at African women who have demonstrated their value by being the continent’s top 10 wealthiest women.
#1 Isabel Dos Santos
Net worth: $2.2 billion
Isabel Dos Santos is an Angolan businesswoman. She is presently 48 years old born on April 1, 1973, in Luanda, Angola. She is one of Africa’s most well-known businesspeople.
Furthermore, Isabel is the oldest daughter of José Eduardo dos Santos, the former President of Angola who served from 1979 to 2017.
She owns a number of businesses and corporations in both Portugal and Angola. She also owns substantial stakes in Portuguese banks, as well as assets in Angola and the Netherlands.
This woman also owns a quarter of Unitel S.A, a private Angolan mobile carrier.
She is also the first African woman to become a billionaire.
#2 Ngina Kenyatta
Net worth: $1.65 billion
Ngina Kenyatta nicknamed “Mama Ngina,” and “The Grandmother of Africa” is a third-generation Kenyan woman. She was born on June 24, 1933. She is Kenya former First Lady and the mother of current President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Entrepreneur and philanthropist Ngina Kenyatta is the CEO of Ngina Investments Holdings Limited. This is one of Kenya’s biggest investment enterprises. This company participates in manufacturing, construction, marketing, and distribution.
This woman also owns 24.91 % of the Commercial Bank of Africa (CBA), one of Kenya’s largest privately held banks, as well as heritage hotels like the Voyager Resort in Mombasa and Tsavo, Timsales Timber. Also, a media Max, a media conglomerate that includes K24 TV, Kameme Radio, and The People newspaper.
The Ngenda Development Funds work in Kenya to alleviate poverty via education, community empowerment, and health care. The Ngenda Development Fund has cooperated with numerous organizations, including USAID, to promote sustainable development as a result of its activities.
Being one of the richest women in Africa she has a net worth of $1.65 billion
#3 Folorunso Alakija
Net worth: $1 billion
Folorunsho Alakija is a Nigerian businesswoman. Born in Ikorodu, Lagos State and she is presently 69 years old. Her major interests are in the oil, fashion, and printing sectors.
Her success story is an inspiration to women all over the world, and her accomplishments are beyond her imagination.
She is the Vice-Chairman of Famfa Oil Limited and the general manager of The Rose of Sharon Group, which also includes the Rose of Sharon Prints & Promotions Limited and Digital Reality Prints Limited.
Furthermore, she is ranked 3rdon the richest women in Africa list made by Forbes with a personal net worth of $1 billion
Folorunso has also established a lot of aids in Nigeria to help various humanitarian causes. For instance, the construction of an orphanage home to assist children who have lost their parents due to death or abandonment.
#4 Hajia Bola Shagaya
Net worth: $950,000
Hajia Bola Muinat Shagaya is a businesswoman and fashionista from Nigeria. Born on October 10th, 1959, and a graduate of Armstrong College in the United States with a bachelor’s degree in economics.
Shagaya began her professional career as an auditor at the Central Bank of Nigeria. She left CBN in 1983 and went into commercial sales.
She did import and export activities, introducing Nigeria to Konica. This is a photography product line.
Also, Hajia Bola Shagaya is Africa’s fourth-richest woman with a net worth of $950,000
#5 Wendy Appelbaum
Net worth: $259.3 million
Wendy Appelbaum is presently 60 years old and is the wealthiest woman in South Africa coming fifth on the list of most richest Women in Africa.
She is the daughter of late South African businessman Sir Donald Gordon. She has worked in a variety of sectors and became the head of Liberty Investors, Ltd.
In South Africa, Wendy holds the Demorgenzon wine estate, which is a great wine industry. Her winery sells more than half a million bottles of wine every year. 85 per cent going to France, the United Kingdom, Sweden, the United States, and Canada.
Her company is also on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange with over a billion dollars in assets.
She is a philanthropist, and one of her charitable projects is to provide free annual breast screenings and inspections to female farmers. She has also established breast assessment clinics near her house and across South Africa.
#6 Wendy Ackerman
Net worth: $190.2 million
Wendy Ackerman is a South African retail tycoon and a non-executive shareholder of Pick N Pay Holdings Limited. Raymond Ackerman, her husband, established a company where Mrs Ackerman is the company’s acting Executive Director, with a market capitalization of $3 billion. This corporation has operations in Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Eswatini, Namibia, Lesotho, and Zambia.
She’s also a benefactor who established an Educational Trust Fund to help disadvantaged children get to school.
#7 Irene Charnley
Net worth: $150 million
Irene Charnley is a South African businesswoman and former trade unionist. She is one of South Africa’s wealthiest businesswomen, she is presently 61 years old, was born in 1960. She spent thirteen years as a negotiator for the National Union of Mineworkers in South Africa.
Irene entered the telecoms sector and rose through the ranks to become the head of MTN Group. MTN Group is Africa’s biggest telecom company, and as a result of her efforts, she has helped connect various African and Arab countries. She left MTN due to the challenges and launched her own telecoms company, Smiles Telecommunication.
This company is now present in Nigeria, Uganda, Congo. She was, also a director at FirstRand Bank and a number of other enterprises, and she is Africa’s, seventh-richest woman.
#8 Charlize Theron
Net worth: $130 million
Charlize Theron is a South African-American actress and producer who is also one of the highest-paid actresses in the world. Many awards have been bestowed upon Theron, including an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a Golden Globe Award.
She’s appeared in a number of films, including The Devil’s Advocate, Mighty Joe Young, The Cider House Rules, and Monster. She is placed 8th on the list of richest women in Africa as a result of her income in the film industry.
#9 Bridget Radebe
Net worth: $100 million
Bridget Radebe was born on February 26, 1960, in New York City. She is the sister of South African businessman Patrice Motsepe and a South African entrepreneur of Tswana ancestry.
Bridget is currently employed in the mining business, having started her career as a miner. She is now the CEO of Mmakau Mining, a gold, coal, platinum, uranium, chromium, and vanadium exploration firm.
Bridget is the President of the SAMDA, a South African mining development initiative.
#10 Sharon Wapnick
Net worth: $43.1 million
Sharon Wapnickis a citizen of South Africa and is presently 57 years old. She inherited her father’s companies, Octodec Investments and Premium Properties, which are both listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. She is the chairperson of Octodec, and her success can be linked back to her father, Alec Wapnick, who is wealthy and influential.
