Two Cameroonians named in the list of top 5 richest people

Cameroonian industrialist Baba Danpullo and banker Paul Kammogne Fokam are among the five largest fortunes in francophone sub-Saharan Africa in 2016, according to the ranking published by Forbes Africa in its December 2016-January 2017 double edition, which was just released.

As in 2015, Baba Danpullo, former trucker who became billionaire through investments in real estate, telecoms and food industry, is still the richest man in francophone sub-Saharan Africa, with a wealth estimated at USD 940 million (approximately FCFA 579 billion).

The king of Ndawara, located in the North-Western region of Cameroon where Baba Danpullo operates vast tea plantations, is ranked far ahead of banker Paul Kammogne Fokam, 3rd largest fortune in francophone sub-Saharan Africa, with assets estimated at USD 690 million (FCFA 424 billion).

Paul Kammogne Fokam, 2nd in 2015, is outranked this year by George Forrest, of the Forrest group, who operates among other things in the civil engineering, cement factories, mining, banking, food industry and renewable energy sectors in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

As a reminder, Mr Kammogne Fokam built his wealth through Afriland First Bank, a banking group which has today about ten subsidiaries in Africa and representative offices in Paris and China. This bank mainly deals with a number of other companies in the Fokam empire, which also owns assets in insurance companies, capital-risk, paper industry, real estate, microfinance, etc.