In a world where success is often measured by wealth, the richest Black people stand out as remarkable figures.
These individuals are pioneers in diverse fields, from business to entertainment, and their achievements not only shatter barriers but also pave the way for others to follow.
Take a look at the top 10 richest Black people in the world:
David Steward $11.4 billion USA
David Lloyd Steward, born in 1951, is an American billionaire entrepreneur. He is the founder and chairman of World Wide Technology (WWT), which is among the largest African-American-owned companies in the United States. In 2024, Steward was ranked 344th on Forbes’ list of billionaires globally, with an estimated net worth of $11.4 billion.
Aliko Dangote ($11.3 billion)
Aliko Dangote, born on April 10, 1957, is one of the richest Black people in the world. A prominent Nigerian businessman and industrialist, he is notably the first person to build a private oil refinery in Nigeria. As of October 2024, Forbes ranks him as the 211th richest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of $11.2 billion. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, his wealth is estimated at $27.7 billion.
Robert F. Smith ($10.8 billion)
Robert Frederick Smith, born on December 1, 1962, is an American billionaire businessman and philanthropist. He is the founder, chairman, and CEO of Vista Equity Partners, a private equity firm. Smith earned a chemical engineering degree from Cornell University and later an MBA from Columbia Business School. Before founding his company, he worked as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs. In 2019, during a commencement speech at Morehouse College, Smith made headlines when he pledged to cover the entire $34 million in student loan debt for the graduating class of 2019.
Mike Adenuga ($6.6 billion)
Mike Adenuga, Nigeria’s second wealthiest person, amassed his fortune through telecommunications and oil ventures. His mobile network company, Globacom, is the second-largest in Nigeria, boasting over 60 million subscribers. In addition to telecommunications, Adenuga’s oil company, Conoil Producing, operates six oil blocks in the Niger Delta.
Globacom also established Glo-1, a 6,100-mile submarine internet cable linking the U.K. with Ghana and Portugal. Adenuga holds a 74% stake in publicly traded Conoil and owns just under 6% of Nigerian bank Sterling Financial Holding.
Abdulsamad Rabiu ($ 4.7 billion)
One of the richest Black people in the world, Abdul Samad Isyaku Rabiu is a prominent Nigerian businessman and philanthropist. As of 2024, he ranks as Nigeria’s third richest man. His father, Khalifah Isyaku Rabiu, was one of Nigeria’s leading industrialists in the 1970s and 1980s. Abdul Samad is the founder and chairman of BUA Group, a Nigerian conglomerate focused on manufacturing, infrastructure, and agriculture, generating over $2.5 billion in revenue. He also serves as the chairman of Nigeria’s Bank of Industry (BOI).
In July 2020, Forbes valued his net worth at $3.2 billion, placing him 716th among the world’s billionaires. By January 2022, he was recognised as Nigeria’s second richest person. In April 2022, he ranked as the fifth-richest person in Africa with a fortune of $6.7 billion, and by January 2023, he climbed to fourth on the continent’s wealthiest list.
Michael Jordan ($3.5 billion)
Widely considered the greatest basketball player of all time, Michael Jordan won six championships with the Chicago Bulls. Throughout his career, his total salary amounted to $90 million, but his earnings from partnerships with brands like Nike, Hanes, and Gatorade have reached an astounding $2.4 billion (before taxes). In 2020, Jordan became a special advisor and investor for the sports-betting company DraftKings and also co-owned a NASCAR team. In 2023, he sold his majority stake in the Charlotte Hornets in a deal that valued the NBA team at $3 billion.
Oprah Winfrey ($3 billion)
Oprah Winfrey turned her 25-year-long talk show into a powerful media and business empire. The profits from her show, combined with earnings from films like ‘The Color Purple’, ‘Beloved’, and ‘Selma’—which were co-produced by her company, Harpo Productions—have brought her wealth to an estimated $2.5 billion.
In 2011, she launched the OWN cable channel and later sold most of her shares in it to Warner Bros. Discovery in 2020, receiving company stock in return.
In 2015, Winfrey purchased a 10% stake in WeightWatchers, and in 2024, she generously donated her shares to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Winfrey also owns an extensive real estate portfolio, including homes in California and more than a dozen properties, along with 2,100 acres of land in Hawaii.
Patrice Motsepe ($3 billion)
Patrice Motsepe, founder and chairman of African Rainbow Minerals, became a billionaire in 2008, making history as the first Black African to appear on the Forbes billionaire list. In 2016, he established African Rainbow Capital, a private equity firm focused on investments across Africa. Motsepe also holds a stake in Sanlam, a publicly traded financial services company, and is the owner and president of the Mamelodi Sundowns Football Club.
In March 2021, he was elected president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), the governing body for soccer on the continent. His business journey began in 1994 when he became the first Black partner at Johannesburg law firm Bowman Gilfillan, later launching a mining services company. In 1997, Motsepe acquired underperforming gold mine shafts, which he successfully turned around
Jay-Z ($2.5 billion)
Since becoming hip-hop’s first billionaire in 2019, Jay-Z has significantly increased his wealth, largely due to his successful liquor ventures. In 2021, luxury conglomerate LVMH acquired a 50% stake in his champagne brand, Armand de Brignac, also known as Ace of Spades. In February 2023, he sold a majority of his ownership in his cognac brand, D’Usse, to Bacardi.
Beyond liquor, Jay-Z’s wealth includes assets like an art collection featuring works by Jean-Michel Basquiat, his extensive music catalog, and stakes in companies such as Block and Uber. In 2021, he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and in 2022, he won an Emmy for producing the Super Bowl Halftime Show.
Strive Masiyiwa ($1.8 billion)
Strive Masiyiwa faced huge government resistance when he launched the mobile phone network Econet Wireless Zimbabwe in his home country in 1998. He holds a 38% stake in the publicly traded Econet Wireless Zimbabwe, which is part of his larger Econet Group, as well as about 33% of EcoCash, a mobile money transfer company.
Masiyiwa also has an investment in Liquid Intelligent Technologies, a private firm that offers fiber optic and cloud services to telecom companies throughout Africa. His portfolio includes investments in fintech and power distribution companies across the continent, along with stock options in Netflix, where he has been a board member since December 2020. He and his wife, Tsitsi, founded the Higherlife Foundation, which assists orphaned and underprivileged children in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Burundi, and Lesotho.