Published: October 15, 2026
5 Key Facts
- Folorunso Alakija of Nigeria tops the list with an estimated $900 million fortune. The oil magnate behind Famfa Oil is Africa's richest woman, according to Billionaires.Africa's March 2025 estimates.
- There is no female African billionaire in 2026. Forbes Africa's 2026 billionaires list, measured March 1, 2026, contains 23 names and zero women. Forbes has not valued Alakija as a billionaire since 2020.
- Kenya leads with three entries. Zarin Merali, Mama Ngina Kenyatta and Mary-Ann Musangi all feature in the top ten, the most of any country. South Africa and Nigeria have two each.
- Only two fortunes are easy to measure. Sue Youcef Nabi's stake in Coty and Azza El-Sewedy's shares in Elsewedy Electric trade on public markets. The other eight are estimates tied to private companies or family holdings.
- These are estimates, not audited fortunes. Billionaires.Africa, the most detailed ranking of African women's wealth, last updated its figures in March 2025. No credible 2026 valuation exists for anyone on this list.
| # | Name | Country | Est. net worth (USD) | Main source of wealth |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Folorunso Alakija | Nigeria | ~$900M | Oil and gas (Famfa Oil) |
| 2 | Lynette Saltzman | South Africa | ~$500M | Pharmacy retail (Dis-Chem) |
| 3 | Zarin Merali | Kenya | ~$220M | Diversified (Merali estate) |
| 4 | Mama Ngina Kenyatta | Kenya | ~$210M | Diversified (Kenyatta family) |
| 5 | Sue Youcef Nabi | Algeria/France | ~$180M | Beauty (Coty) |
| 6 | Wendy Appelbaum | South Africa | ~$150M | Finance, wine |
| 7 | Patricia Poku-Diaby | Ghana | ~$115M | Cocoa processing |
| 8 | Hajia Bola Shagaya | Nigeria | ~$110M | Oil, real estate, finance |
| 9 | Azza El-Sewedy | Egypt | ~$110M | Manufacturing (Elsewedy Electric) |
| 10 | Mary-Ann Musangi | Kenya | ~$100M | Diversified (Kirubi estate) |
The big picture: Alakija's oil fortune keeps her comfortably ahead of Saltzman's pharmacy wealth. Three Kenyans make the top ten, more than any other country, and the combined estimated wealth of the top ten is about $2.6 billion.
Selected Details
1. Folorunso Alakija: Nigeria's oil queen keeps the crown
$900 million net worth (Billionaires.Africa, March 2025). Alakija built her fortune through Famfa Oil, one of Nigeria's leading indigenous oil companies, with a stake in the Agbami deepwater field, one of the country's most valuable petroleum assets. She started her career far from oil, working as a secretary before studying fashion design and founding a luxury fashion label. An oil prospecting license changed her life, turning her into Africa's richest woman. Forbes valued her at $1 billion in January 2020 but dropped her below the billionaire mark when oil prices fell. She has never returned to Forbes' billionaire ranks.
2. Lynette Saltzman: the pharmacy fortune
$500 million net worth (Billionaires.Africa, March 2025). Saltzman co-founded Dis-Chem Pharmacies with her husband Ivan, building it into one of South Africa's largest pharmacy and healthcare retailers. The couple holds 35.12 percent of the listed company, and the individual split between husband and wife is not public. That makes her $500 million figure one of the least transparent on this list, even though it is anchored in a real stock-market value. Dis-Chem's stores across South Africa and Namibia keep the family's wealth visible every day.
3. Zarin Merali: Kenya's quiet inheritance
$220 million net worth (Billionaires.Africa, March 2025). Merali inherited a diversified business empire from her late husband, Naushad Merali, one of Kenya's best-known industrialists. The estate's assets include interests in Sameer Africa, the Sasini tea and coffee group, and NCBA, a major Kenyan bank. This is family wealth, not a personal balance sheet, and the companies involved rarely disclose enough for an exact valuation. She remains one of Kenya's most private major investors.
4. Mama Ngina Kenyatta: the Kenyatta family anchor
$210 million net worth (Billionaires.Africa, March 2025). Ngina Kenyatta, matriarch of Kenya's most famous political family, sits at the center of one of the country's largest family fortunes. The holdings include Brookside Dairy, a 13.2 percent stake in NCBA bank, the Mediamax media group, and extensive land. The estimate covers the family wealth held with her at its head. Online claims of a $1 billion personal fortune are unsourced, and claims that Forbes has ranked her are false: Forbes has never listed her.
5. Sue Youcef Nabi: from Algeria to a beauty giant's boardroom
$180 million net worth (Billionaires.Africa, March 2025). Nabi, who holds Algerian and French citizenship, is the chief executive of Coty, the global beauty company behind brands like CoverGirl and Rimmel. Her wealth comes mainly from a 3.7 percent stake in Coty, about 31.88 million shares, which trades on public markets. That makes her the most transparent fortune on this list, because anyone can look up the share price. Her value moves with Coty's stock and with the dollar.
6. Wendy Appelbaum: finance and wine
$150 million net worth (Billionaires.Africa, March 2025). Appelbaum co-founded Wiphold, South Africa's first black-women-controlled investment company, and owns the DeMorgenzon wine estate in Stellenbosch. Her wealth sits mostly in private assets, which makes this figure the hardest to defend in the top ten. She herself once publicly rejected an older Forbes estimate of her wealth. The $150 million figure reflects an educated guess on her finance and wine holdings, not a number she has confirmed.
7. Patricia Poku-Diaby: cocoa's first lady
$115 million net worth (Billionaires.Africa, March 2025). The Ghanaian businesswoman founded Plot Enterprise, a cocoa processing and commodities trading group with capacity of about 48,000 tonnes a year. Ghana and Ivory Coast grow most of the world's cocoa, yet almost all of it is processed elsewhere. Poku-Diaby built her business in that gap. The $115 million figure is inferred from the value of her private business, which publishes no accounts, so it should be read as an informed estimate.
8. Bola Shagaya: oil, real estate and the camera
$110 million net worth (Billionaires.Africa, March 2025). Shagaya's interests span oil and gas, real estate and finance, plus the Fotofair photography business she founded. She is one of Nigeria's most prominent businesswomen, but her companies disclose very little financial detail. Online claims of a $950 million fortune are unsourced and far above any defensible figure. The $110 million estimate is the best supported number available.
9. Azza El-Sewedy: cables and copper
$110 million net worth (Billionaires.Africa, March 2025). El-Sewedy owns about 3.03 percent of Elsewedy Electric, the Egyptian cable and electrical equipment giant founded by her family. Because the company is listed on the Egyptian stock exchange, her stake can be measured from the share price, which makes this one of the most verifiable fortunes on the list. The value rises and falls with the share price and the Egyptian pound.
10. Mary-Ann Musangi: carrying the Kirubi estate
$100 million net worth (Billionaires.Africa, March 2025). Musangi is the widow of the late Kenyan billionaire Chris Kirubi, whose estate she helps oversee. The holdings include interests in the Centum investment group, KCB bank, Haco Industries and Capital Media. Like other estate-based fortunes on this list, the $100 million figure estimates family-controlled wealth, not a personal bank balance. She remains active in Kenyan business circles and philanthropy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is the richest woman in Africa in 2026?
Folorunso Alakija of Nigeria, with an estimated net worth of $900 million, according to Billionaires.Africa's March 2025 estimates, the most detailed ranking of African women's wealth available. Her fortune comes from Famfa Oil's stake in the Agbami deepwater oil field plus real estate. See our richest people in Africa 2026 ranking for the full list, where men still dominate.
Is there a female African billionaire in 2026?
No. Forbes Africa's 2026 billionaires list, with net worths measured March 1, 2026, has 23 names and not one woman. Alakija was last valued as a billionaire by Forbes in January 2020, at $1 billion, and fell below the mark when oil prices dropped. No woman has crossed the billion-dollar threshold since.
Why is Isabel dos Santos not on the list?
Dos Santos was once Africa's richest woman, with Forbes estimating her wealth near $3.5 billion. Forbes removed her from its lists in January 2021, marking her frozen assets at zero after courts in Angola, Portugal and the United Kingdom froze assets worth more than $2 billion. Because she has not appeared on any credible wealth ranking since, there is no defensible 2026 figure for her, so she cannot be ranked honestly.
How reliable are these net-worth figures?
Treat every number here as an estimate, not an audited fortune. Most of these women own private companies that publish no accounts, so analysts must infer values. The most verifiable fortunes belong to Sue Youcef Nabi, whose Coty shares trade on a public exchange, and Azza El-Sewedy, whose Elsewedy Electric stake is listed in Egypt. For the rest, the figures are educated estimates based on known business interests and family holdings.
Which African country has the most women on the list?
Kenya, with three: Zarin Merali, Mama Ngina Kenyatta and Mary-Ann Musangi. South Africa and Nigeria have two each. Ghana, Egypt and Algeria (through Sue Youcef Nabi, who also holds French citizenship) have one each. For comparison across all African wealth, see our richest people in South Africa 2026 ranking.
Data Sources
- Billionaires.Africa, "Africa's top 15 richest women" (published March 21, 2025; updated March 22, 2025). The source of every net-worth figure in the table. billionaires.africa
- Forbes Africa, "2026 Africa's richest people" (published April 7, 2026; net worths measured March 1, 2026). Confirms zero women on the 2026 Africa billionaires list. forbesafrica.com
- TrenderHQ, "Top 10 richest women in Africa in 2026 and their nationalities" (published August 30, 2026). Cross-check of the Billionaires.Africa estimates with caveats. trenderhq.com
Methodology
The ranking follows Billionaires.Africa's "Africa's top 15 richest women" estimates (March 21, 2025), the most recent detailed ranking of African women's wealth. The top ten entries are carried over in order, with Bola Shagaya placed ahead of Azza El-Sewedy where both sit at about $110 million, matching the source. Forbes Africa's 2026 billionaires list (net worths as of March 1, 2026) was used as a cross-check and confirms no woman reaches the billion-dollar mark. Isabel dos Santos is excluded because no credible current valuation exists for her frozen assets. All figures are estimates in US dollars, and the data vintage is stated in every figure to keep the ranking honest about its age.
.jpg?width=1600)
