African Wealth Briefing — Sun., May 31, 2026

Good evening from Billionaires.Africa.

Here is a brief on what we published yesterday.

Yesterday's coverage split cleanly between two African banking-and-energy stories worth your attention and a busier-than-usual celebrity-wealth docket out of North America.

The lead development is in East African finance. James Mwangi's Equity Group confirmed plans to set up two insurance businesses in the Democratic Republic of Congo, deepening its push into what has become the group's most profitable market outside Kenya. Equity BCDC is now the DRC's second-largest bank, and its 2025 profit jumped 58 percent to KSh24.7 billion — the fastest absolute profit growth of any subsidiary in the group. With roughly 94 percent of Congolese unbanked and insurance penetration minimal, Mwangi is betting that Equity's existing millions-strong customer base gives it a distribution platform few rivals can match, mirroring the insurance playbook the group ran successfully at home in Kenya. The DRC sits at the center of his stated 2030 target of 15 countries and 100 million customers.

In Nigeria, Wale Tinubu's Oando finally put a date on its delayed numbers, setting June 12 for the release of its 2025 audited financial statements after missing the March 31 regulatory deadline. The holdup traces to integrating the systems inherited from the roughly $2.9 billion NAOC acquisition from Eni — a deal that nearly doubled Oando's reserves past one billion barrels of oil equivalent but came with a tangle of legacy IT. Unaudited figures hint at the strain, with pretax profit falling sharply on integration costs and lower trading volumes, yet the stock is up more than 24 percent year-to-date as investors await the first full audited view of the enlarged portfolio.

The rest of the day's coverage came out of North America's celebrity-wealth beat: Jay-Z's escalating legal fight with attorney Tony Buzbee, a round of layoffs at Kevin Hart's Hartbeat, a Dutch green light for two Kanye West concerts, and Serena Williams's planned return to competitive tennis at 44.

Top Stories

James Mwangi's Equity Group plans to set up two insurance businesses in the DRC Equity deepens its bet on its most profitable foreign market, where its banking subsidiary's profit jumped 58 percent in 2025 and most of the population remains unbanked.

Wale Tinubu's Oando sets June 12 date for 2025 audited results after months of delays After missing the March 31 deadline, Oando will publish full-year results on June 12, the delay traced to integrating systems from its $2.9 billion NAOC acquisition.

Billionaire Jay-Z says Tony Buzbee invented a death threat to make his accuser drop her lawsuit An amended SDNY complaint accuses the attorney of fabricating a death threat to pressure the accuser, while concealing an unauthorized federal court practice.

Kevin Hart confirms Hartbeat cut 25% of staff but says his entertainment company is solid Hart confirmed a quarter of his entertainment company's staff were let go while maintaining the business is fundamentally sound.

Dutch authorities clear Kanye West to perform two concerts in the Netherlands Finding no legal grounds to bar him, Dutch authorities cleared two Arnhem concerts on June 6 and 8 despite opposition from lawmakers and Jewish groups.

Serena Williams planning tennis comeback at 44 at Queen's Club The 23-time Grand Slam champion is planning a competitive return at London's Queen's Club in June, now eligible after completing anti-doping re-entry requirements.