Although many African Americans play down their African heritage and have no knowledge of who they are historically, it is interesting to note that of all the billionaires, all with the
exception of Oprah are African. Mike Adenuga, with a net worth of $4.3 billion, amassed his fortune when he became the first Nigerian to strike oil in commercial quantities in the early
1990s through his Conoil Producing Company. He also on path to build Africa’s largest mobile telecommunications network. His mobile phone operator, Globacom, already has over 15 million subscribers in Nigeria alone.
Patrice Motsepe, the South African mining magnate and first black billionaire is estimated to be worth $2.7 billion. Trained as a lawyer at the University of Witwatersrand, he eventually
acquired low-producing gold shaft mines in 1994 and currently is the Executive chairman of African Rainbow Minerals (ARM), a South African mining company with interests in platinum, nickel, chrome, iron, and manganese, coal, copper and gold. He owns 41 percent of the company.
