Meet five ultra-wealthy Gambian entrepreneurs who are individually worth $30 million or more. Each person has founded, owns and runs businesses with proven annual revenues of eight figures or more. Their names don’t ring a bell with the African public, and you’ve probably never heard about them before, but you should probably know them.
Alieu Conteh
Source of wealth: Telecom
Alieu Conteh was born in Gunjur, a small coastal town in southwestern Gambia, and moved to the Democratic Republic of the Congo at the age of 29, where he started a business exporting coffee beans to the United Kingdom. His coffee trading business flourished, but during the civil war in the DRC, he lost everything to the rebels. In 1999, during the reign of Laurent Kabila, he sold everything he owned to launch Congo’s first mobile telecommunications company, Congolese Wireless Network (CWN) in 1999 with just 4,000 subscribers. Two years later, he sold 51 percent of CWN to Vodacom South Africa, and the company was rebranded as Vodacom Congo. Today, Vodacom Congo now has more than 13 million subscribers, and Conteh’s stake is worth close to $1 billion.
Amadou Samba
Source of wealth: Cement
The renowned industrialist is the founder, chairman and president of Gacem, Gambia’s largest importer and loose bulk packer of Portland cement. He co-owns the company with the Italian-based Italcementi Group. Samba also owns Gamwater – the largest water-bottling company in The Gambia and an extensive property portfolio in both The Gambia and the United Kingdom.
Muhammed Jah
Source of wealth: Telecoms
Muhammed Jah founded Quantumnet, Gambia’s first Internet service provider, in 1998. Today, his $120-million (revenue) QuantumNet Group is one of the country’s largest conglomerates. QuantumNet Group owns QCell – the only Gambian privately owned telecommunications company in the country. QCell was the first telecom company in The Gambia to provide 3G and 4G LTE mobile Internet services. The group also owns QTv, the first private television station in The Gambia, a mobile money company, recreational centers, and an auto distribution company.
Mustapha Njie
Source of wealth: Real estate
Mustapha Njie, a Gambian real estate mogul, is the founder and CEO of TAF Africa Global, a pan-African real estate company that has built thousands of homes across multiple African countries. In 2013, TAF Africa Nigeria homes, a subsidiary of TAF Africa Global, entered into a joint venture with the government of Rivers State in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region to develop and transform 40 hectares of “swampy,” “inaccessible” land into homes. The resulting project, Rivtaf Golf Estate, is a thriving gated community featuring luxury town homes and apartments for middle to high income earners in the state.
Hamidou Jah
Source of wealth: Oil
Hamidou Jah, a brother to telecom tycoon Muhammed Jah, is the proprietor of Jah Oil, which has more than 20 petrol and gas stations around the country. The company also imports and sells auto engine lubricants and related petroleum products from the United States and the Middle East.
