Best CEOs And Top Executives in Africa, 2021

In Africa you can meet some of the richest and most successful CEOs. The names you will read below may be familiar. If not this is an opportunity to meet some of the most successful people in Africa.

1. Aliko Dangote: He is the founder of Dangote Group, born in Kano, Nigeria. He serves as Chairman and CEO. Dangote Group is a market leader in cement and currently has presence in 17 African countries. One of the Group’s subsidiaries, Dangote Cement Plc, is the largest listed company in West Africa and the first Nigerian company to join the Forbes Global 2000 Companies list. Dangote Group has also activity in sugar refining, salt and seasonings, fertilizers, tomato and rice farming, automotive, energy, real estate, mining, logistics and maritime. Dangote Cement Plc reached 1,034.2 billion rand, up 16% from 2019. The profit after tax reached 276.1 billion rand, up 37,7% from 2019. Aliko Dangote is the wealthiest person in Africa, with an estimated net worth of $11.1 billion as of May 2021.
2. Patrice Motsepe: He was born in Ga-Rankuwa, South Africa. He is the founder and executive chairman of African Rainbow Minerals, which has interests in gold, ferrous metals, base metals, and platinum. Motsepe is included among the ten wealthiest people in South Africa. African Rainbow Minerals headline earnings increased by 6% to R5 534 million or R28.50 per share in 2020 driven mainly by higher PGM and iron prices. Group basic earnings for the financial year were R3 965 million. Motsepe holds many recognitions. He won South Africa’s Best Entrepreneur Award in 2002 and in 2004 he was voted 39th among the South African Broadcasting Corporation’s Great South Africans. In 2020, Motsepe was ranked as the 1,307th-wealthiest person in the world by Forbes, with a reported fortune of $2.1 billion.
3. Strive Masiyiwa: He is a Zimbabwean billionaire businessman. He is the founder and executive chairman of Econet Global. The headquarters of the company are in Johannesburg. Its products include telecommunications, internet services, solar energy, e-commerce, education, renewable energy, banking, bottling and video on demand. In 2021, Masiyiwa became the first black billionaire to enter the Sunday Times Rich List with a net worth of £1.087 billion. Also, he is a very active philanthropist. Masiyiwa has provided scholarships to more than 250,000 young Africans over the past 20 years through his family foundation while supports more than 40,000 orphans with educational initiatives and sponsors students at universities in America, The United Kingdom, and China.
4. Femi Otedola: He was born in Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State in south west Nigeria. Otedola is the founder of Zenon Petroleum and Gas Ltd, and the owner of a number of other businesses across shipping, real estate and finance. He has an estimated net worth of 1,8 billion dollars. Also, he is a philanthropist donating millions of dollars to universities and educational projects.
5. Maria Ramos: She is a South African businesswoman who serves as the chairperson of AngloGold Ashanti since 2020. Maria Ramos was born in Lisbon. Her parents decided to move to Mozambique and then to South Africa in the mid 1960s searching for better opportunities. AngloGold Ashanti Limited is a global gold mining company. Headline earnings for H1 2021 were $363m while net cash flow from operations reached $318m in Q2 2021, up 113% from Q1 2021. Ramos has been honored with many awards. She was named CNBC Africa Woman Leader of the Year in 2011 and Businesswoman of the Year by the SA Businesswomen’s Association in 2001.
6. Reginald Mengi: He was a Tanzanian billionaire who passed away in 2019 at age 75. Mengi was listed in Forbes richest people in Africa in 2014 with an estimated net worth of $560 million. Not to forget to mention that Mengi was the Chairman of Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF), Confederation of Tanzania Industries, IPP Gold Ltd., Media Owners Association of Tanzania, Executive Chairman & Owner at IPP Ltd. (Tanzania) and Chairman of Handeni Gold, Inc.
7. James Mwangi: He is from Kenya and currently serves as Group Managing Director and Group Chief Executive Officer of Equity Group Holdings Plc. Equity Group Holdings Limited belongs to banking and finance industry. Its products include loans, mortgages, investments, debit cards and credit cards. James Mwangi’s net worth is estimated at 170 million dollars.
8. Adewale Tinubu: He is a Nigerian businessman and lawyer. He serves as the group chief executive of Oando PLC. Tinubu begun his career as a lawyer with his family law firm. He specialized in corporate and petroleum law. However, in 1994, he co-founded Ocean and Oil Limited, an oil company located in Nigeria. Adewale Tinubu is estimated to have a net worth of about $15 million.
9. Robert Collymore: He was born in Guyana. Unfortunately, he passed away in 2019 after losing his battle with leukemia. Collymore served as the chief executive officer at Safaricom, a multi-national telecommunications company based in Kenya.
10. Divine Ndhlukula: She is a Zimbabwean businesswoman, born in rural Gutu. She is the founder and Managing Director of DDNS Security Operations (Pvt) Ltd which is the holding company for SECURICO Security Services. Divine Ndhlukula is also the Chairperson of ZNCC Women’s Desk. She was named one of the most successful women in Africa by Forbes.