There’s no money like young money......make money not violence!
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While African millionaires and
billionaires like Onsi Sawiris, Raymond Ackerman, Aliko Dangote and
Deinde Fernandez 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.
While some are corporate animals; others are empire builders- like
Ladi Delano, the restless 30 year-old Nigerian entrepreneur who founded
Solid XS, a hugely successful premium Vodka business in China when he
was barely 23 years old.
He subsequently flipped his vodka company for millions of dollars.
Today, he is a co-founder and CEO
of
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Bakrie Delano Africa, a $1 billion
investment vehicle committed to making acquisitions in Nigeria’s mining,
energy and agriculture sectors.
There are thousands of young and immensely successful entrepreneurs
across the African continent. There’s a growing number of Africans aged
40 and under who are legitimately amassing multi-million dollar
fortunes. They don’t inherit stuff; they build it themselves.
Vinny Lingham, S’African
Age: 33
Founder, Yola Inc:
Lingham, a South African national, is the founder ofYola 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 foundedClick2Customers, 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.
Mark Shuttleworth, S’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 byVisa 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.
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, S’African
Age: 35
Executive Director, South African Breweries
The only woman to make it to this list. 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.
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.
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.
Justin Stanford, S’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.
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.
Source: Forbes Magazine
....and what about you?......lol
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