Meet Johann Rupert, The Billionaire Who Has Been Credited as Africa's Richest Man on Forbes List

• The South African billionaire who claimed the title of Africa's richest man comes from a family of business people
• Johann Rupert overthrew Aliko Dangote on Forbes's list of African billionaires with a net worth of $12 billion
• Dangote lost much of his fortune thanks to Nigeria's devaluation of their currency

Johann Rupert has displaced Nigeria's Aliko Dangote as Africa's richest man on the Forbes list for the first time in 10 years.

According to real-time billionaire rankings by Forbes, Rupert's wealth rose to $12 billion while Dangote's fortunes declined to $10.8 billion.

The Rise of Johann Rupert

As per Leadership Newspaper, The South African luxury merchant took the title of the continent's richest person last week as Nigeria devalued its currency leading to a massive loss for Dangote.

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The 73-year-old South African comes from a family of business people. The eldest son of Anton Rupert, a business tycoon, founded the Rembrandt Group, a tobacco firm, in 1948, which later became a key source of wealth for the family.

Johann Rupert abandoned his academic studies to take on business.

In 2010, Rupert became the CEO of Compagnie Financiere Richemont after working for Chase Manhattan and Lazard Freres in New York.

Rupert founded the Rand Merchant Bank in 1979 after returning to South Africa.

He held the position of the CEO of the bank until 1984 when it merged to form RMB Holdings. He left to join his father's company, the Rembrandt Group.

In 1988, he established Compagnie Financiere Richemont and became the Non-Executive Director of Rothmans International the same year.

He became the Chairman of the Rembrandt Group in 1991 and assumed the position of Non-Executive Chairman of Gold Fields South Africa Limited five years later.

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Rupert's many businesses and ventures

Rupert undertook to restructure his father's business, Rembrandt Group, and founding Remgro Limited and VenFin Limited.

Despite dropping out of school, his business success showed his brilliance and discipline.

Rupert founded the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation in 1990, aiming to address social problems via sports.

Per Forbes, Rupert has other interests beyond business and philanthropy. He partly owns Saracens English rugby team and Anthonij Rupert Wines, named after his brother who died in a car accident.

However, Dangote retains his position as Africa's richest man on Bloomberg Billionaire Index, with a net worth of $18.8 billion.

Johann Rupert and 3 more South Africans rank in the top 500 billionaires

Briefly News reported on three South Africans who made it on Bloomberg's list of the top 500 billionaires

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The list is a daily ranking that takes into account people's net worth and places them from the highest to the lowest

Other South Africans who made the list on 31 May 2023 include Nicky Oppenheimer and Natie Kirsh.

Source: Legit.ng