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Good morning from Billionaires.Africa.
Here is a brief on what we published yesterday.
Yérim Sow is moving Bridge Bank into Guinea Conakry. The Senegalese billionaire's Teyliom Group is establishing a 2027 banking subsidiary in Conakry to embed itself in West Africa's mining corridor — the same bauxite, gold and iron ore arc that has redrawn the region's industrial map over the past five years. The move follows Bridge Bank's expansion into Mali in 2024 and confirms a pattern: francophone West Africa's quietest billionaire is building a banking footprint that tracks mining capital from origin to settlement.
In the same window, Ralph Mupita took home the largest CEO compensation package in MTN Group history. R99 million in total pay for 2025, as MTN credited Nigeria for driving its strongest year in decades. The Nigerian recovery — the naira stabilization, the airtime credit suspensions notwithstanding, the MoMo restructuring — has lifted the entire MTN Group story. Nigeria, which until two years ago was the source of MTN's largest impairment in a decade, is now the engine of its compensation packages.
And the most consequential investigative story of the week: The Sentry, the Washington-based investigative organization founded by George Clooney and John Prendergast, published a detailed mapping of the Dubai property holdings of Sudan's Rapid Support Forces leadership. £17.7 million across more than 20 luxury properties, including Burj Khalifa apartments and gated villas near the Meydan racecourse. The architecture connects the RSF's gold smuggling operations to UAE-registered firms whose owners the United States has already sanctioned for funding the paramilitary group accused of genocide in El Fasher.
Top Stories
Senegalese billionaire Yérim Sow's Bridge Bank targets Guinea Conakry with a 2027 subsidiary as his Teyliom Group pushes deeper into West Africa's mining corridor Sow's Teyliom Group is establishing Bridge Bank Guinea in 2027, completing a banking footprint across the bauxite and iron ore corridor running from Guinea through Mali to Burkina Faso.
Sentry investigation reveals £17.7 million Dubai property portfolio linked to Sudan's RSF leadership A new Sentry investigation maps more than 20 luxury properties in the UAE worth approximately £17.7 million held by family members and sanctioned associates of RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. The Sentry frames the UAE as a "safe haven" for RSF leadership wealth.
Ralph Mupita earns a record R99 million as MTN credits Nigeria for driving its strongest year in decades The MTN Group CEO's R99 million 2025 compensation is the largest in the company's history. The board credited the Nigerian operation specifically — the same market that caused the largest impairment in MTN's recent past is now the engine of its earnings story.
Ghanaian billionaire Ibrahim Mahama just paid the first $2 million of his $5 million pledge to get Ghana to the 2026 World Cup Engineers and Planners has disbursed the first tranche of a $5 million corporate commitment to Ghana's Black Stars qualifying campaign — the largest single corporate pledge in the country's World Cup fundraising drive.
UAE-based African Rail is raising $170 million to run freight trains on South Africa's broken rail network African Rail Co. is raising capital to buy locomotives and wagons for South Africa's newly privatized freight network, targeting the Durban and Mozambique corridors. UAE-domiciled, South African-operating — a structural pattern now common across continental infrastructure.
Global
British billionaire Joe Lewis puts his Klimt, Modigliani and Freud masterpieces into Sotheby's for a £150-200 million London sale Joe Lewis is targeting more than $200 million at Sotheby's London in June with masterpieces that would make this the most valuable single-owner sale in London auction history.
Ye builds his own 60,000-seat stadium in Albania as European countries block tour stops The rapper is building his own venue infrastructure in Albania after multiple European cities blocked tour stops, an unusual response from a global artist to commercial deplatforming.
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