Richest Women in Africa 2015

Africa is plagued by unequal distribution of wealth. Many African women face high rates of poverty. However, some of them are rich. The current generation of African women is ambitions, and is eager to reform societies, build industries and rewrite history. Africa has produced few rich women. These women are highly influential in the continent.

Here are the top 3 richest women in Africa.

1. Isabel dos Santos (Net Worth: $3.7 billion)  

Isabel dos Santos is the richest woman in Africa. She is the eldest daughter of Angola’s longtime president Jose Eduardo dos Santos. This 41-year-old billionaire is currently working on expanding her stable of investments. She is a controlling stakeholder in Portugal Telecom Company Nos SGPS. Isabel dos Santos owns around 19 percent of Portuguese bank Banco BPI. Jose Eduardo dos Santos has transferred stakes in many companies to his daughter. Her holdings in Angola include 25 percent of Unitel, and a stake in Banco BIC. Unitel is the largest mobile carrier in Angola.

2) Folorunsho Alakija (Net Worth: $2.5 billion)

Folorunsho Alakija is a 63-year-old self-made billionaire. She pursued secretarial studies and fashion design in London when she was a young woman. After coming back to Nigeria, she worked as an executive secretary for many companies for sometime. Then she founded her own tailoring company, Supreme Stitches. The company quickly rose to prominence among Nigeria’s high society. Today she controls Famfa Oil, which pumps out 200,000 barrels a day.

3) Ngina Kenyatta (Net Worth: $1 billion)  

Mama Ngina Kenyatta is the mother of Uhuru Kenyatta, the fourth and the current president of Kenya. She is the wife of Jomo Kenyatta, the first president of Kenya. She holds a vast collection of prime real estate her husband acquired in the 1960s and the 1970s during a British colonial government and world-bank sponsored settlement transfer scheme, which allowed government officials and rich Kenyans to acquire land from British colonialists at cheap prices.

Mama Ngina Kenyatta and her family owns stakes in Kenya’s largest dairy company Brookside Dairies, media company Mediamax, Heritage Hotels, Commercial Bank of Africa and hundreds of thousands of prime Kenyan land.

source: click