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Egypt leads with seven billionaires, as Cairo reigns supreme as Africa’s billionaire city

Egypt’s seven billionaires account for $17.83 billion of Egypt’s $307 billion in private wealth.

Mohamed Mansour

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Despite ranking third among Africa’s wealthiest cities in a report issued this week by Henley & Partners in cooperation with New World Wealth, Cairo, Egypt’s capital city, remains Africa’s billionaire capital, home to four Egyptian dollar billionaires.

Cairo, Egypt’s financial capital, is Africa’s third-wealthiest city, with a total private wealth of $128 billion, trailing South Africa’s Johannesburg and Cape Town, which rank first and second, with a total private wealth of $239 billion and $131 billion, respectively.

As one of Africa’s “Big 5” private wealth markets — South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, Morocco, and Kenya — Egypt, like its capital city, Cairo, has the most billionaires in the continent, with a total of seven dollar billionaires linked to the North African country.

Egypt, Africa’s second-largest economy, also ranks second in terms of private wealth, with $307 billion in total private wealth, significantly less than the $651 billion in private wealth tied to South Africa, Africa’s most industrialized nation.

According to data retrieved by Billionaires.Africa, here is a list of Egypt’s seven billionaires, together, this group of elite businessmen directly account for a total of $17.83 billion of Egypt’s private wealth of $307 billion.

#1 Nassef Sawiris

Net worth: $6.13 billion

Source: Construction, Industrial investments

A descendant of Egypt’s wealthiest family Nassef Sawiris is Egypt’s richest man, as well as the richest Arab billionaire, with a net worth of $6.13 billion at the time of writing.

Sawiris’ $6.13-billion fortune is mostly derived from his holding in Dutch fertilizer firm OCI N.V. and his 3.72-percent share in German sportswear giant Adidas.

#2 Naguib Sawiris

Net worth: $3.4 billion

Source: Telecom, Real Estate, Investments

With a wealth of $3.4 billion, Naguib Sawiris is Egypt’s second-richest man and Africa’s eleventh-richest man.

The billionaire amassed his fortune after selling Orascom Telecom to Russian telecom firm VimpelCom (now Veon) in a multibillion-dollar transaction in 2011.

#3 Mohamed Mansour

Net worth: $2.5 billion

Source: Automobile, Investments

Mohamed Mansour, the CEO of his family’s company Mansour Group, is one of Egypt’s wealthiest billionaires with a net worth of $2.5 billion. His brothers, Yasseen and Youssef Mansour, who possess a stake in the family business, are also billionaires.

The majority of the Egyptian billionaire’s fortune stems from his stake in his family’s business, Mansour Group, one of Egypt’s top conglomerates.

#4 Mohamed Al Fayed

Net worth: $2.1 billion

Source: Retail, Hospitality, Sports

Mohamed Al Fayed, an Egyptian businessman and retail entrepreneur whose primary home and business interests have been in the United Kingdom since the late 1960s, is now worth $2.1 billion, up from $1.8 billion at the start of 2022.

Fayed amassed a fortune in retail after selling his holdings in the London department store Harrod’s to Qatar in a deal valued at $2.4 billion in 2010.

Aside from his business interests in Harrods and Fulham FC, the Egyptian businessman owns the storied Ritz Paris hotel.

#5 Youssef Mansour

Net worth: $1.5 billion

Source: Conglomerate

Mansour Group’s chairman and part-owner is Youssef Mansour. He is in charge of the consumer products segment, which includes the Metro supermarket chain and the exclusive distribution rights for L’Oreal in Egypt.

#6 Yasseen Mansour

Net worth: $1.1 billion

Source: Conglomerate

Yasseen Mansour is a billionaire and a shareholder of Mansour Group, a family-owned company. Mansour is the chairman of Palm Hills Development, a renowned Egyptian real estate corporation, in addition to his commercial holdings in Mansour Group.

Palm Hills Development reported in 2021 that its net profits climbed 14.26 percent from EGP749.17 million ($47.7 million) in 2020 to EGP856.06 million ($54.5 million), due to an increase in demand for real estate assets over the year.

#7 Samih Sawiris

Net worth: $1.1 billion

Source: Conglomerate

With a net worth of $1.1 billion, Samih Sawiris, the youngest son of the late Egyptian construction businessman Onsi Sawiris, is one of Egypt’s wealthiest businesspeople.

The majority of the Egyptian billionaire’s fortune stems from a 10-percent interest in Dutch fertilizer firm, OCI N.V.

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