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Jean Paul Fabri is Chief Economist at Henley & Partners.
Africa’s wealth story is no longer just about untapped potential, it is about a continent quietly reshaping the global economic map. According to the latest data in the Africa Wealth Report 2025, Africa is now home to approximately 122,500 millionaires, 348 centi-millionaires, and 25 billionaires. These figures represent concentrated wealth in key hubs such as South Africa, Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, and Kenya alongside the emergence of smaller, high-growth markets like Mauritius, Ghana, and Namibia.
This is an extraordinary milestone. Yet, beneath the headline numbers lies a more complex reality: while wealth is growing in certain pockets, overall millionaire numbers across Africa have contracted by around 5% over the past decade. The challenge, and opportunity, is to understand what is driving both the gains and the declines, and how to position the continent for sustainable, broad-based wealth creation.
South Africa remains the continent’s largest wealth hub, with 41,100 millionaires — more than double the high-net-worth individual population of the next-ranked country, Egypt, at 14,800. However, South Africa’s millionaire population has shrunk by 6% over the past decade, reflecting structural economic challenges, cross-border wealth migration, and political uncertainty.
By contrast, Mauritius has emerged as Africa’s fastest growing wealth market, with millionaire numbers increasing by over 63% in 10 years, driven by political stability, investment-friendly regulation, and its positioning as a financial and lifestyle hub. Of the Top 5 wealthiest countries, Morocco and Kenya have also posted solid growth, underpinned by infrastructure investment, rising consumer markets, and diversified economies.
At the city level, Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Cairo remain the dominant wealth centers, but the fastest growing millionaire hubs are not the traditional giants. Lifestyle destinations are now taking the lead with Black River in Mauritius, Marrakech in Morocco, and the Whale Coast in South Africa all experiencing millionaire growth rates of over +50%, fueled by luxury real estate, tourism, and niche investment ecosystems.
Africa’s economic narrative has long oscillated between optimism and frustration. The optimism stems from its demographics, resources, and market potential. The frustration arises from a persistent pattern of wealth extraction rather than wealth creation. Too much of Africa’s wealth is tied to commodities, concentrated ownership, and sectors that do not generate large-scale, sustainable employment.
True transformation will occur only when the continent builds productive wealth ecosystems — economies where capital is both accumulated and reinvested into industries that expand opportunity. This requires deliberate policies to deepen capital markets, incentivize value addition, and channel investment into infrastructure, manufacturing, and the knowledge economy.
There are three strategic imperatives to be achieved for the continent to truly grasp the opportunity and create sustainable wealth. Africa’s policy-making needs to be anchored in these pillars, which are fundamental for long-term economic growth.
Global investors seek environments where clear rules are consistently applied. Countries like Mauritius demonstrate how predictable tax regimes, transparent governance, and strong property rights can accelerate capital inflows and wealth growth. Without institutional reliability, even the most resource-rich nations struggle to retain and grow wealth.
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) offers a pioneering platform to grow intra-African wealth. Currently, African countries trade more with the rest of the world than with each other. Unlocking regional value chains in sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing, finance, and technology will allow African millionaires to invest in African opportunities, multiplying the continent’s own wealth base.
The fastest growing wealth hubs are those that combine premium investment with a broader economic uplift. Without inclusivity, wealth concentration can fuel instability. Encouraging private investment in infrastructure, renewable energy, digital platforms, and education can create a pipeline of small and medium enterprises that feed into the formal economy, creating new wealth holders rather than merely expanding existing fortunes.
One of the more subtle but powerful challenges the continent faces is psychological. For too long, Africa has been perceived as a destination for aid or extractive investment. The next generation of African millionaires is already rewriting this story, building tech unicorns in Lagos, renewable energy ventures in Nairobi, and luxury brands in Casablanca. This shift from dependency to agency is critical.
We also need to confront a paradox: while African wealth is growing, too much African capital still resides offshore. Reversing this will require attractive investment returns at home as well as strengthening local wealth management, financial services, and lifestyle infrastructure so that high-net-worth individuals see Africa not only as the source of their wealth but as a safe place to grow it.
If current trends continue, we project that African millionaire numbers could increase by 65% over the next decade, driven by population growth, urbanization, technological adoption, and rising global demand for African goods and services. But this will not happen automatically. It will require intentional leadership, strategic investment, and a willingness to tackle deep-seated structural constraints.
The world’s major wealth shifts, from post-war America to modern-day Asia, have been underpinned by periods of intense institution-building, infrastructure development, and human capital investment. Africa stands at a similar inflection point. The difference is that today, technology, capital mobility, and a young, entrepreneurial population give Africa a unique set of accelerators.
The challenge for policymakers, investors, and business leaders is to ensure these accelerators are harnessed for generational wealth creation, not short-term gain.
The rise in Africa’s millionaire class is both a signal and a test. It signals that despite challenges, wealth is being created and retained in key markets. But it also tests the continent’s ability to turn private wealth growth into broad-based economic transformation. For Africa, the goal is not merely to count millionaires, but to build a wealth ecosystem where prosperity is self-reinforcing; where opportunity expands, capital circulates locally, and the continent becomes not just a participant, but a leader, in the global wealth story.
The next decade will determine whether Africa’s wealth story becomes one of concentrated enclaves or a truly continental renaissance. The data tells us the potential is vast. The question is whether the leadership, policy, and vision will rise to meet it.
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