African men always had the monopoly on wealth and exclusive owners of estates or land. Women simply had to be content with the scarps that man threw their way but there are woman who have proven their worth. They stand out to become five of the richest females in the continent and have thousands of employees under their belt to manage.
Isabel Dos Santos (Net worth: $3.7 billion)
Isabel is a 43-year-old Angolan investor considered by the considered by Forbes to be the richest female I the whole continent. She is the oldest daughter of Angola’s longtime president by virtue of her investments in Portugal and Angola. The source of her worth is through investments; her investments pushed her over 1 billion marking her first African woman to become a billionaire. At the age of 24, she leveraged her father’s position to corner lucrative state contracts such as exclusive rights to cleaning and disinfecting Luanda and other cities.
Folorunso Alakija (Net worth: $2.5 billion)
She is a fashion designer and executive director of FAMFA oil, gas, exploration and production company worth over 600 million. The source is from oil that is Famfa Oil, Nigerian oil Exploration company that owns a 50% stake in Oil Mining License (OML) 127, one of Nigeria’s most prolific oil blocs. Folorunso is a business tycoon and she managed to unseat Oprah Winfrey as the richest women of Africa descent. She also studied fashion design in the United Kingdom and founded her own owning 60% stake.
Mama Ngina Kenyatta
Mama Ngina is the wife of the late Kenya’s first president, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta. Though her wealth is not self-proclaimed and undeclared but she is worth mentioning. She defends and promotes family businesses interests which cuts across banking, farming, education, insurance, hospitality, manufacturing and real state. Mama Ngina controls some 500 000 acres of Kenyan land as the average price of US$1 000 per acre. The Kenyatta family with Mama Ngina as their head also owns Bookside Daires, Kenya’s largest dairy company. Her source includes family, banking and media.
Hajia Bola Shagaya
One of the Nigeria’s wealthiest businesswomen, Shagaya ventures in banking, oil, real estate and photograghy, which are her source of wealth. She is the founder and CEO of Bolmus Group International which is she is a board member of United Bank PLC. The real estate development arm of her group builds and owns dozens of luxurious residential properties in some of Nigeria’s priciest neighborhoods for which clients pay as much as US$180 000 per annum apiece as rent. She also serves on the board and has a significant minority stake in Unity Bank, a Nigerian commercial bank.
Wendy Appelbaum
Wendy is a South Africa millionaire; she is the director of her father’s insurance company and real estate. Appelbaum is the daughter of the South African tycoon David Gordon and she used to work for Liberty Investors. She is the chair of of the South African Women’s Proffessional Golfer’s Association. She was also part of a women controlled investment company. Her position were co-founder and chairwoman of the Women’s Investment Portfolio Limited (Wiphold) which has over US$150 million assets
