Vimal replaced on Forbes list of Africa’s 50 richest people

What you need to know:

  • Only two Kenyans make the list, Bhimji Depar Shah ($700 million) and Naushad Merali ($550 million).
  • Bhimji is the father of Bidco Oil CEO Vimal Shah, who was listed last year with a net worth $1.6 billion.

Forbes magazine has released its fourth annual list of Africa’s richest people, setting the stage for renewed controversy over how it is compiled.

It reveals that, unlike its neighbours Uganda and Tanzania, Kenya has no dollar billionaires despite being the biggest economy in East Africa and the ninth largest on the continent.

Only two Kenyans make the list, Bidco Oil’s Bhimji Depar Shah($700 million) and Sameer Group’s Naushad Merali ($550 million).

Bhimji is the father of Bidco Oil CEO Vimal Shah, who was listed last year with a family net worth $1.6 billion.

Forbes says “new information” has led them to attribute the wealth to Bhimji and family, not Vimal. The publisher, however, does not explain why the estimate of the family’s wealth has changed since last year.

It is not clear whether the reduction is because wealth held by Vimal and his younger brother Tarun has been considered separate from Bhimji and family or whether there was an error in making the estimate last year.

USELESS INFORMATION

The Bidco chief executive’s reaction to being named Kenya’s richest man last year was to dismiss it as untrue.

“That is completely useless information,” he said, adding that he was not consulted before the list was prepared. “There is not a grain of truth in it and it is not worth a single penny from anyone. People are so desperate for money that they just package a string of falsehoods for purposes of selling it to others.”

This year’s list retains Nigeria’s commodities magnate Aliko Dangote as the richest man on the continent for the fourth year running, with an estimated net worth of $21.6 billion, up from $20.8 billion last year.

Other newcomers include King Mohammed VI of Morocco, Algeria’s Ali Wakrimand family, Egypt’s Ahmed Ezz and Nigerians Tony Elumelu and Orji Uzor Kalu.

The minimum threshold to make the top 50 rose to $510 million, Forbes Africa editor Chris Bishop said in a CNBC Africa broadcast Wednesday afternoon.

The list purports to rank the continent’s 50 richest resident citizens by offering conservative estimates of directly held wealth. Africans who live abroad, like Egyptian business magnate Mohamed al Fayedand Sudanese-British telecoms billionaire Mohamed Ibrahim are not included in the list.

Past rankings have, however, been hotly disputed with various individuals claiming to either have more or less wealth than estimated by Forbes researchers.

The article first appeared in The Business Daily.