Black Billionaires List – 2012

Mohammed Al Amoudi

Mohammed Al-Amoudi, $12.5 billion

Half Saudi Arabian and half Ethiopian, Al-Amoudi made his billions from  lucrative construction contracts for the Saudi Royal family. He also owns the oil company  Svenska Petroleum Exploration.

Aliko Dangote, $11.2 billion

Nigerian Dangote, once the world’s richest black, was bumped from the list due to losses he incurred from Nigeria’s weak stock market. His Dangote Group is Nigeria’s largest industrial multinational, with sugar refineries, flour milling, salt processing and cement plants in Nigeria, Zambia, Senegal, Tanzania and South Africa.

Mike Adenuga, $4.3 billion

Adenuga, a business associate of former Nigerian President Ibrahim Babangida, was awarded several opportunities to oil mine in the oil rich country  Today, he owns Conoil Producing Company, which  is Nigeria’s largest indigenous oil exploration company. Daily production: 100,000 barrels per day.

Patrice Motsepe, $2.7 billion

Motsepe is South Africa’s first black billionaire, and although he made his fortune in mining,  he studied law at the University of Witwatersrand . He  founded a small contracting firm and then bought a few gold mines in the mid 1990″s. He is now the Executive chairman of African Rainbow Minerals (ARM), a South African mining company which mines platinum, nickel, chrome, iron, manganese, coal, copper and gold.

Oprah Winfrey, $2.7 billion

Oprah Winfrey, also known as the Queen of All Media, made a name for herself in daytime television and she now owns her OWN network. In addition, she also runs a leadership academy for girls in South Africa.

Mo Ibrahim, $1.1 billion

The Sudanese born Mo Ibrahim made his billions from telecom by founding Celtel, a mobile a mobile phone company that serves 23 countries in Africa and the Middle East. In 2005, he sold the company for $3.4 billion. After the sale, he founded Satya Capital, a $150 million private equity firm which invests solely in African companies.