NAGUIB SAWIRIS

The Coptic tycoon, who built his wealth in telecommunications, was correct in his gold wager. Naguib Sawiris and his team at La Mancha – the mining holding company he just converted into an investment fund – and Endeavour Mining, of which he is the largest shareholder, have had a successful year.

Endeavour Mining, a Canadian corporation based in London and Abidjan, has become West Africa's biggest gold producer. It is neck and neck with Harmony Gold of South Africa, the world's tenth-largest gold business. It is expected to produce 1.5 million ounces of gold per year by the end of 2021. He made his wealth in the telecom industry, selling Orascom Telecom to VimpelCom (now Veon) in a multibillion-dollar deal in 2011.

Addition to, He is the chairman of Orascom TMT Investments, which owns investments in Egyptian asset management as well as the Italian internet business Italiaonline. Naguib Sawiris controls 88 percent of Euronews, a pan-European pay-TV, and video news network, through his Media Globe Holdings. Besides, on the Caribbean island of Grenada, he also built the Silversands luxury resort. Those things make it impossible to deny that he is in the top of the richest people in Africa is a mistake.

Net worth: $3.4 billion

Industry: Telecom

Country: Egypt