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