Dangote Scales 18 Hurdles, Becomes World’s 65th Richest Person

By Eric Elezuo

Africa and Nigeria’s richest person, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has up his game in the billionaire’s list, clearing 18 huedles to become the 65th richws person in the world.

Dangote, who is the president of Dangote Industries Limited and the Dangote Refinery, achieved this feat inspite of the dwindling Nigerian economy, which has adversely affected the performance of the Naira against the dollar and other currencies of the world.

Dangote’s sporadic rise in the list of Billionaires is attributed to the final kickoff of the commercial activities of the 650,000bpd refinery.

The businessman increased his wealth to $28 billion after his $20 billion refinery located in Lagos commenced operations this year and produced premium motor spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol, in September.

In its latest Top 500 Billionaires Index released on Thursday, the Bloomberg Billionaires Index revealed that Mr Dangote moved to a new level from the 83rd he was in 2022.

The Bloomberg Billionaires Index ranks the world’s richest people daily. In calculating net worth, Bloomberg News strives to provide the most transparent calculations available, and each individual billionaire profile contains a detailed analysis of how that person’s fortune is tallied.

The index is a dynamic measure of personal wealth based on changes in markets, the economy and Bloomberg reporting. Each net worth figure is updated every business day after the close of trading in New York. Stakes in publicly traded companies are valued using the share’s most recent closing price. Valuations are converted to U.S. dollars at current exchange rates.

The report stated that Mr Johann Rupert of South Africa is 174 on the world list, with a wealth of $13.6 billion and Nicky Oppenheimer also of South Africa is number 224 with a wealth of $11.6 billion.

Other Africans on the list are South African’s Natie Karsh on number 297 in the world with a wealth of $9.25 billion, Egypt’s Nassef Sawiris on number 302 in the world with a wealth of $9.16 billion, and Naguib Sawiris also of Egypt with a wealth of $7.37 billion on number 407 in the world.

Ellon Musk and Jeff Bezos are the richest in the world with $242 billion and $210 billion, respectively in their kitties, while Mark Zuckerberg and Larry Ellison followed, respectively with $204 billion and $185 billion on the world’s billionaires’ chart.