Mo Dewji wealth jumps to $1.8bn 

In the list of Africa’s dollar billionaires, the Mohammed Enterprise (T) Ltd (MeTL) CEO has jumped to 12th position from the previous 13th slot. MeTL’s has diversified internationally.

In the list, Mo Dewji remains the youngest dollar billionaire for 10 years in a row at the age of 48 years and he’s the only billionaire in eastern and central Africa who appeared in the list. 

The Tanzanian businessman created 40,000 jobs, implying adding 5,000 more jobs to the 35,000 registered last year.

METL is a Tanzanian conglomerate founded by his father in the 1970s, active in textile manufacturing, flour milling, beverages and edible oils in eastern, central and southern Africa, \ total of ten African countries including Uganda, Ethiopia and Kenya.

As Tanzania's only dollar billionaire, he signed the ‘giving pledge’ in 2016, promising to donate at least half his fortune to philanthropic causes, the magazine indicated, noting that the 20 billionaires on the 2024 Forbes list of Africa’s richest are worth a combined $82.4bn, up $900m from last year’s $81.5bn

The Forbes’ list includes  Aliko Dangote ($13.9bn),   Johann Rupert & family ($10.1bn),   Nicky Oppenheimer & family ($9.4bn), Nassef Sawiris ($8.7bn), Mike Adenuga ($6.9bn), Abdulsamad Rabiu ($5.9bn), Naguib Sawiris ($3.8bn), Mohamed Mansour ($3.2bn), Koos Bekker ($2.7bn), Patrice Motsepe ($2.7bn), Issad Rebrab & family ($2.5bn), and Strive Masiyiwa ($1.8bn).

Others are Aziz Akhannouch & family ($1.7bn), Othman Benjelloun & family ($1.4bn), Youssef Mansour ($1.3bn), Yasseen Mansour ($1.2bn), Christoffel Wiese ($1.2bn), Michiel Le Roux ($1.1bn) and Femi Otedola ($1.1bn).

The continent remains one of the world’s toughest places to build – and hold onto – a billion-dollar fortune, as global investors remain leery of its stock exchanges, businesses struggle against strained economies, poor infrastructure and volatile exchange rates, while changing political winds can make, boost or bust private fortunes.

Charles Robertson, head of macro strategy at asset manager FIM Partners, says that as a result, entrepreneurs often face limited access to capital and populations with little disposable income to invest in new companies or the stock market.

A turbulent 2023 also made African equities less attractive for foreign investors. "You've got two negatives for investors. Weakening domestic [currencies], which is pushing up inflation, and tax rises, which is hurting the companies they're investing in,”  he said.

“Central banks have been hiking rates as well, so you've had big rate hikes and currency weakness and tax rises all at once. And if there was any chance that mix wasn't going to deter all foreign investors, then throw in multiple coups happening, and it just created a very nasty storm," the strategist added.