AFRICA'S RICHEST MEN

2008 has been a tough year all round, the Credit Crunch unleashed havoc across the globe, commodity prices crashed, export markets shrunk, stock markets have headed downwards and foreign investors have fled riskier markets as they rushed for safety.

The culmination of these factors has seen some big changes in the league table of African wealth with many fortunes decimated and a new man at the top.

The American business magazine Forbes has published its annual list of the richest people on planet Earth and we at CRIG CONSULT have had a look through to see how Africa fared.....

9. Johann Rupert & Family (South Africa)

World Rank No.601

Wealth $1.2 billion

It has been another bad year for the Rupert family. Once ranked No.3 on the list of richest in Africa, the family is in danger of slipping out of the list all together. The bulk of their wealth is tied into the Richemont Group, a major player in luxury goods and this is a sector that has been particularly hard h it by the global down turn. The summation of this is a fall in wealth of over $2.4 billion and a drop to No.9 in the African rich list.

9. Femi Otedola (Nigeria)
World Rank No.601

Wealth $1.2 billon

Last year saw the debut of Aliko Dangote as the first entrant from Africa’s most populous country, Nigeria in the Forbes Billionaire list. This year sees another entry, oil magnate Femi Odetola. Odetola is one of a cortège of moguls who prospered under the Nigeria last administration, others include Aliko Dangote, Jim Ovia (Zenith Bank), Michael Adenuga (Glo Telecoms) and Tony Elumelu (UBA Bank). It would be no surprise if one of the latter three makes the list next year.

8. Patrice Motsepe (South Africa)
World Rank No.559

Wealth $1.3 billion

Patrice Motsepe was a new entrant this time last year his mining empire benefitting from record commodity prices to make him the first black South African to make the African rich list. A year on the fall in commodity prices particularly platinum has hit him hard with his personal wealth falling $1.1 billion. Despite the fall he was still able to claw his way up one spot to No.8 on the list.

7. Onsi Sawiris (Egypt)
World Rank No.430

Wealth $1.7 billon

In 2008 the Sawiris family were easily the richest family in Africa with father Onil and sons Naguib, Nassef and Samih boasting a combined wealth of $35.7 billion. The global crisis has seen this wealth decimated. The patriarch of the Sawiris family, Onil saw his personal wealth plunge from $9.1 billion to $1.7 billion on the back of collapse in the value of the Sawiris’s construction group, telecommunication group and leisure interests.

6. Mo Ibrahim (Sudan)
World Rank No. 334

Wealth $2 billion

We omitted Mo Ibrahim from our list last year, with $2 billion to his name we are not going to make the same mistake twice. Mo Ibrahim made his fortune building up the CelTel mobile phone empire and selling it on to Kuwaiti investors. In recent years he is most famous for his $5 million African leadership prize.

5. Aliko Dangote (Nigeria)
World Rank No.261

Wealth $2.5 billion

The Nigerian Stock Exchange was a few years ago one of the world fastest growing exchanges but it has plummeted over the last few months and with it has gone a substantial proportion of Dangote’s wealth. Despite losing over $800 million he still moves up two places as others have suffered even more painful losses.

4. Naguib Sawiris (Egypt)
Rank No.205

Wealth $3.0 billion

Last year there were three Sawiris brothers in the list Naguib, Nassef and Samih. Move forward one year, mix in a global financial crisis and only two brother are left in the billionaires club with Samih ejected. Naguib who last year was richest man in Africa has lost an eye-watering $9.7 billion over the year as the value of his telecommunications empire, Orascom Telecom Holdings crashed by close to 90% and he now finds himself nestled in fourth place on the list.

3. Nassef Sawiris (Egypt)
World Rank 196

Wealth $3.1 billion

Nassef may have only dropped one position in the list but losing that one place was accompanied by a loss of $7.9 billion. His wealth has been hit by twin blows of falling valuation of his construction interest, Orascom Constructions which has dropped over 80% from its peak, and falling oil prices which have affected many of the firm’s Middle Eastern clients.

2. Nicky Oppenheimer & Family (South Africa)
World Rank No 98

Wealth $5 billion

They say diamonds are forever and the Oppenheimer family proved this as they remain as a mainstay of Africa’s rich list and they have weathered the financial crisis relatively unscathed. They were aided by having sold a significant part of their Anglo American empire at the peak of the market.

1. Mohammed Al Amoudi (Ethiopia)

World Rank No. 43

Wealth $9 billion

We come to the top of the list and the honour of the ‘Richest Man in Africa’ goes to Ethiopian born Mohammed Al Amoudi. Saudi based Al Amoudi has successfully preserved his $9 billion fortune through these troubled times and that act of financial stewardship alone has seen him rise from No.4 to the top of the rich list and No.43 in the world. His interests are spread across Sweden, the Middle East and his home country of Ethiopia.

DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH ACROSS THE AFRICAN CONTINENT

1. With 62.67% of the total wealth in the top ten rich list of Africa, the North Africans obviously harbour the largest chunk of wealth in Africa.

2. With a combined wealth of $ 30billion, the ten richest men in Africa will rank as on the world rich list.

3. At 46, Femi Otedola is the youngest member of the African Billionaire club. He is worth $ 1.7 billion.

4. At 76, Onsi Sawiris is the oldest member of the African Billionaire club. He is worth $ 1.2 billion.

Michael Jackson public viewing set for Friday

Michael Jackson's body will return to his Neverland Ranch on Thursday morning for a public viewing Friday, CNN has learned.

A private memorial service is scheduled for Sunday.

Also, a Jackson will, written in 2002, has been found, according to family lawyer Londell McMillan.

It was not immediately clear whether Jackson's body would be interred at Neverland.

He purchased the Neverland Ranch, north of Santa Barbara, in 1987 and filled it with animals and amusement rides. He lived at the property until soon after his 2005 acquittal on child molestation charges.

He later ran into financial problems with Neverland but retained a stake in it at the time of his death June 25.

The ranch is named for the fictional world in J.M. Barrie's "Peter Pan," a favorite story of Jackson's.

The singer's hometown of Gary, Indiana, is asking the family to have him buried there, according to the mayor's spokeswoman.

Gary Mayor Rudy Clay has been in contact with the Jackson family hoping to make that happen, spokeswoman Lalosa Burns said Tuesday.

The city is planning a memorial service, scheduled for July 10 at U.S. Steel Works ballpark in Gary, Burns said.

It would be "a memorial that's fit for the prince of peace and a memorial that's fit for Gary, Indiana's favorite son, the greatest entertainer that ever lived," Clay said.

A burial site for the singer could be near a proposed Jackson family museum and a performing arts center, Burns said.

"The mayor had spoken with a contact of the Jackson family and expressed our interest in having that to be a part of the history of this great family," Burns said. "We have not received confirmation on that."

Jackson's father, Joe, visited the city last year and talked with Clay about a Jackson museum, Burns said.

'No foul play' in Jackson death

There was no sign of foul play in the death of Michael Jackson, coroners who completed a post-mortem on the singer's body have said.

But toxicology and other tests have been ordered, and the cause of the 50-year-old's death could take several weeks to determine.

Police also want to speak to Jackson's doctor who witnessed his collapse.

Jackson's body has been released to his family but no funeral details have been made public.

Seven hours after the post-mortem examination was completed, Jackson's family was allowed to claim his body, seemingly managing to elude the media crowd outside the coroner's office.

The body has been taken to an undisclosed location.

Announcing the results of a three-hour autopsy, Los Angeles County Coroners spokesman Craig Harvey said there had been no indication of any external trauma or foul play, but he said the cause of death had been deferred.

"It means that the medical examiner ordered additional testing such as toxicology and other studies," Mr Harvey said.

These would take between four to six weeks, he said.

"We know he was taking some prescription medication," Mr Harvey said, without specifying which.

Unconfirmed reports suggest the singer had been taking a daily dose of Demerol, a painkiller also widely known as pethidine.

Jackson, who had a history of health problems, collapsed at his Los Angeles home around midday on Thursday.

A recording of the telephone call made to emergency services has been released, in which the caller said Jackson was unconscious and had stopped breathing.

His personal doctor - who witnessed his collapse - was trying to revive him, the caller said.

The singer was pronounced dead two hours later at the UCLA medical centre. Jackson's brother, Jermaine, said he was believed to have suffered a cardiac arrest.

Former Jackson family lawyer Brian Oxman told US TV that he had been concerned about the star's use of pain relief medication.

He told ABC's Good Morning America programme that Jackson took prescription pain relief for injuries sustained earlier in his career.

"It caused him great pain. He just didn't like to feel such discomfort. He started taking pain medication. It became part of his life," he said.

A spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department said investigators had briefly spoken to Jackson's personal doctor, named by US media as Dr Conrad Murray, but they wanted to speak to him again.

Police also said a car owned by a doctor had been towed away from Jackson's home.

A spokeswoman said the doctor was not under criminal investigation, but that the car could contain "medications or other evidence that may assist the coroner in determining the cause of death".

The star had been due to stage 50 concerts at the O2 arena in London, beginning on 13 July.

YOUR FRIENDS

I have decided to talk about the effects that the people around us have on us.

‘Show me your friend and I will tell you who you are’. This is a life long adage that has attempted to issue a strong caution to us, about the effect that our friends have on us.

As toddlers, without any form of knowledge and understanding of our environment, we have eventually grown into the world with the types of knowledge and information that our enviroment has impart unto us. How does a toddler know that the father should be called ‘DAD’, or the mother ‘MUM’? Whatever information you have acquired as a person, over the years is a semblance of your enviroment. Let us take a scientific analysis of this phenomenon. Say a couple, X resident in France gives birth to a baby and then immediately swaps their baby with another couple, Y resident in Nigeria. Twenty years down the line, it is expected that couple X’s baby will be fluent in the local Nigerian dialects and speak with little or no French accent. On the other hand, couple Y’s baby will be fluent in French and have a French accent as well. Talking about genotype (genetic effect) and phenotype (environmental effect).

There is a very strong relationship between what we are and who our friends are. Remember, the people you interact with will determine what you do, and what you do will determine who you are, and who you are will determine who you will become. Surround yourself with people who will make you do ONLY those things that will make you a better person. This is because, there are four types of people today, and they are:

1. Those who add to your live

2. Those who multiply your life

3. Those who subtract from your life

4. Those who divide your life.

If you intend to fulfill your life long desires, then it is time for you to carry out a proper check of the kind of people that abound around you. In truth, it is not realistic to have only the first two sets of people around you. There is a great tendency for the other two types of people to be around you (if they don’t, then you don’t have anything special about you, you have nothing to offer), but you have to ensure that you have more of the first two groups than the other two groups around you.

Take that decision today; surround yourself with inspiring and positive thinkers that are willing to better your life. Remember, you need people to succeed: good people.

Ifada Johnson

Peace