Forbes: Two Moroccan Billionaires Among World’s Richest, Top African Fortunes

According to Forbes, Aziz Akhannouch, 63, and Othmane Benjelloun, 91, remain the two Moroccans present in the top 20 of the largest African fortunes, and are among the richest billionaires in the world. With an estimated fortune of $1.7 billion in January 2024, higher than his estimated fortune of $1.5 billion in 2023, he ranks 14th on the Forbes Africa list and is ranked 1,905th among the world’s richest individuals at the end of 2023 and 1,781st on February 6. The head of government, who has "withdrawn from any management of the family holding company," "holds interests in oil, gas and chemicals through the publicly traded companies Afriquia Gaz and Maghreb Oxygène," as the majority owner of the Akwa Group, a multi-billion dollar conglomerate founded by his father and a partner, Ahmed Wakrim, in 1932. Between 2022 and 2023, the family holding company was hit hard, dropping from $2 billion to $1.5 billion currently.

His compatriot Othman Benjelloun takes 15th place in the top 20 of the largest African fortunes and is the 2,063rd richest individual in the world on February 6. The CEO of BMCE Bank of Africa, a bank present in more than 20 African countries, accumulates $1.4 billion in January 2024 against $1.3 billion in 2023, an increase of $100 million. Forbes reports that his father was a shareholder in RMA, a Moroccan insurance company, which Benjelloun has transformed into a leading insurer. He holds, through his FinanceCom holding company, a stake in the Moroccan branch of the French telecommunications company, Orange. He financed the construction of the Mohammed VI Tower, the tallest in Morocco, at 250 meters and 55 floors, to the tune of $350 million.