There’s
no money like young money. While African millionaires and billionaires
like Onsi Sawiris, Raymond Ackerman, and Aliko Dangote may have more
money than most of us can ever dream of, there’s one thing they can
never buy: Youth. Even money has its limits.
But
there are a handful of young Africans in their 20s and 30s who have
built businesses and amassed enviable million-dollar fortunes. Call
them million-dollar babies.
Jason Njoku, Nigerian
Age: 31
Founder & CEO Iroko TV
The maverick Nigerian Internet entrepreneur is founder of Iroko TV, the
world’s largest digital distributor of African movies. Iroko TV has
been dubbed the ‘Netflix of Africa’. Earlier this year, Iroko TV raised
$8 million in venture capital from Tiger Global Management, a New
York-based private equity and hedge fund run by billionaire Chase
Coleman. IrokoTV enjoys lucrative content distribution deals with
Dailymotion, iTunes, Amazon and Vimeo. Njoku is unwilling to divulge
figures, but analysts believe IrokoTV could be worth as much as $30
million. Njoku is the company’s largest individual shareholder.
Mark Shuttleworth, South African
Age: 38
Founder, Knife Capital
When Shuttleworth was 22, he founded Thawte, a digital certificate and internet security company which he sold to
VeriSign for $575 million in 1999, when he was 26. Shuttleworth used a fraction of his proceeds to start
HBD Capital (now
called Knife Capital), a Cape Town-based emerging markets investment
fund. HBD has made a series of successful exits including
Fundamo, a mobile financial services company which was acquired by
Visa for $110 million in 2011; and
csense, which was acquired by GE Intelligent Platforms the same year. Shuttleworth also founded and funds
Ubuntu,
a computer operating system which he distributes as free open source
software. Shuttleworth has a net worth north of $500 million.
Ashish Thakkar, Ugandan
Age: 29
Co-Founder and CEO, Mara Group
Thakkar, 29 is a co-founder and CEO of Mara Group – a Ugandan
conglomerate with tentacles in financial services, hotels, renewable
energy, technology and manufacturing. Annual revenues are approximately
$100 million and the group has an active presence in 16 countries on
four continents. Devoted philanthropist: Through his
Mara Foundation, Thakkar provides mentorship and seed funding to young East African entrepreneurs. Also funds
Next Generation Schools, an independent charity focused on improving education quality in disadvantaged secondary schools in Uganda. The Mara Group
recently signed a $300 million deal with the Tanzanian government to develop a 3.5 million square foot state of the art mini-city.
Ladi Delano, Nigerian
Age: 30
Founder and CEO, Bakrie Delano Africa
The jet-setting Nigerian serial entrepreneur made his first millions as
a liquor entrepreneur while living in China. In 2004, at age 22, he
founded Solidarnosc Asia, a Chinese alcoholic beverage company that
made
Solid XS, a premium brand of vodka.
Solid XS went on to achieve over 50% market share in China and was
distributed across over 30 cities in China, and pulled in $20 million in
annual revenue. Delano subsequently sold the company to a rival liquor
company for over $15 million and ploughed his funds into his next
venture-The Delano Reid Group, a real estate investment holding company
focused on mainland China. Today, Delano is the co-founder
and Chief Executive Officer of
Bakrie Delano Africa(BDA) – a $1 billion joint venture with the $15 billion (market cap)
Bakrie Group of
Indonesia. Bakrie Delano Africa serves as the investment partner of
the Bakrie Group in Nigeria. The Indonesian conglomerate has provided
over $900 million worth of funds to invest in Nigeria and Bakrie Delano
Africa is responsible for identifying investment opportunities in
mining, agriculture and oil & gas and executing them.
Justin Stanford, South African
Age: 28
Founder & CEO, 4Di Group
South African-born Stanford is a software entrepreneur and venture
capitalist. After dropping out off high school, Stanford set out to
launch an internet security company which flopped. When he came across
ESET,
a Slovakian anti-virus software package, he negotiated with its
manufacturers and cornered the exclusive, lucrative Southern African
distribution for the product. Today, Stanford’s
ESET Southern Africa operates
the ESET brand in the region and sells ESET’s range of internet
security products in about 20 sub-Saharan countries, leveraging on an
extremely successful internet business platform and digital distribution
model for online software sales and service. Today, Stanford’s ESET
brand records over $10 million in annual turnover and controls 5% of the
anti-virus market in Southern Africa. Stanford is also the founding
partner of 4Di Capital, a Cape Town-based venture capital fund. Stanford
is also a co-founder of the
Silicon Cape Initiative, a non-profit movement that aims to turn the Cape into Africa’s own Silicon Valley.
Magatte Wade, Senegalese
Age: 36
Founder, Adina World Beat Beverages & Tiossan
In 2004 Magatte Wade founded Adina World Beat Beverages, a
San Franciscobeverage
company that manufactures coffee, tea and fruit juices using
traditional beverage recipes across Africa and organic ingredients
sourced from smallholder farmers in Africa and Asia. Within five years
of launching, Adina raised over $30 million in venture capital from
institutional investors and the products began being sold by Whole Foods
and United Natural Foods. Magatte stepped down from her position as
CEO to grow her second company,
Tiossan, a manufacturer of luxury skin care products based on indigenous Senegalese recipes.
Mike Macharia, Kenyan
Age: 36
Founder & CEO, Seven Seas Technologies
When he was 25, Macharia, a Kenyan national, founded
Seven Seas Technology,
now easily East Africa’s most reputable IT services firm. The $50
million (annual sales) company is a leading provider of integrated
business and technology solutions across Africa in the telecom,
financial,
Real Estate, service industry and government. Seven Seas is gearing up to get listed on the Nairobi Stock Exchange next year.
Vinny Lingham, South African
Age: 33
Founder, Yola Inc
Lingham, a South African national, is the founder of
Yola Inc,
a San Francisco-based Web 2.0 outfit that provides free website
building, publishing and hosting services to over 3 million active users
across the globe. Yola has attracted over $30 million in venture
capital financing from institutional investors such as
Columbus Venture Capital, a subsidiary of South African billionaire Johann Rupert’s Richemont Group. Prior to Yola, Lingham founded
Click2Customers, a hugely successful search engine marketing company with offices in London, Cape Town, and Los Angeles.
Click2Customers rakes in about $100 million in annual revenues. Lingham is a co-founder of
the Silicon Cape Initiative along with fellow South African entrepreneur Justin Stanford.
Kamal Budhabatti, Kenyan
Age: 36
CEO, Craft Silicon
Kamal is the founder and CEO of Craft Silicon, a $50 million (market
value) Kenyan software company which provides software in core banking,
microfinance, mobile, switch solutions and electronic payments for over
200 institutional clients in 40 countries spread across four
continents.
Yolanda Cuba, South African
Age: 35
Executive Director, South African Breweries
When Yolanda Cuba was 29 she was appointed CEO of Mvelaphanda Holdings,
a Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed investment holding company. She
was awarded stock options worth
over $10 million which
she exercised before stepping down as CEO last year. She subsequently
took up a job as an Executive Director at South African Breweries.
Cuba still serves on the boards of South African blue chips such as
Steinhoff International Holdings and Absa Group.
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