African Wealth Briefing — Mon., Oct. 5, 2026

Good morning from Billionaires.Africa. Here's the catch-up since Thursday's brief.

This week's theme is ownership: who holds Africa's banks, who gets a seat in its biggest industrial projects, and who decides when a business changes hands. A French bank is leaving Ghana and a Moroccan one is arriving. A Ugandan family is asking an English court to rule that its bank was taken unlawfully. And the continent's richest man is turning governments into his shareholders.

Crane Bank, in London. The Ruparelia family's trial against dfcu, a Rabobank unit and others opens today at the High Court in London, seeking at least $225 million over the 2017 transfer of Crane Bank after the Bank of Uganda took it over in 2016. The claimants say the bank was sold far below value through an unlawful process; dfcu denies wrongdoing and says the transaction was lawful. The trial is expected to run for several months. Today's Inside Story tells the story of the man behind the claim.

The Moroccan banks move south. Attijariwafa Bank, whose largest shareholder is King Mohammed VI's family holding company Al Mada, will buy 55.22% of Société Générale Ghana, its first foothold in English-speaking West Africa, as the French group continues its retreat from the continent. At home, Othman Benjelloun's Bank of Africa lifted first-half profit 10% to $261 million and Moulay Hafid Elalamy's Saham Bank rose 15.5% to $95 million. Today's Deep-Dive reads the shift.

Dangote, the dealmaker. Aliko Dangote has offered East African governments 30% of his $16 billion Lamu refinery, with Kenya weighing a 10% stake worth about $500 million. He blamed local fuel marketers and international oil companies for protests against the project, and met President el-Sisi to discuss investing in Egypt's energy, fertilizer and cement sectors. Today's Investor Memo explains why he wants states as shareholders.

West Africa builds. Peeyush Garg turned a Ladipo Street trading business into Daraju, the maker of MYMY toothpaste, with ₦111 billion in annual sales. Chris Iyovwaye went from auxiliary nurse to founder of Wellmann Group, with more than $20 million in yearly turnover. Babacar Ngom's Sedima will invest about $35 million in a poultry and grain complex in Congo. Jim Ovia warned that Nigeria's 312 universities must not come at the expense of quality. And in Cameroon, Viettel asked the president to block any new Nexttel investor without its consent, reviving its fight with Baba Danpullo.

East and Southern Africa. Kenya's competition regulator cleared the sale of Mastermind Tobacco's assets, the company built by the late Wilfred Murungi. Hassanein Hiridjee's Stellarix is expanding data-centre capacity in Senegal. Emmanuel Katongole resigned as chairman of Uganda's tax authority board after six months. Ipeleng Mkhari's Motseng joined the consortium that will run the Gautrain to 2041. Discovery's Adrian Gore and eight other executives sold R117.9 million of shares after incentive awards vested. And Zimbabwe's aviation authority is investigating the helicopter crash that killed Wicknell Chivayo and his wife.

North Africa. MNT-Halan, Egypt's first fintech unicorn, will sell 20% of its Egyptian business in a Cairo IPO. Moncef Belkhayat's La Voie Express will spend 100 million dirhams on a logistics hub near Agadir.

Around the world. Larry Ellison's fortune has fallen almost $200 billion in a year, and bond investors now price Oracle and Paramount as a single Ellison bet. VistaJet founder Thomas Flohr says private-jet demand is surging, with Middle East hours up 68%. Chey Tae-won will sell 944 billion won of SK shares to pay a record divorce award. David Reuben, 88, has moved to Monaco. Paul Lederer is in talks to sell Real Dairy Australia to Schreiber Foods. Nikhil Kamath co-led a round in Aignosis, which uses AI to flag children who may need autism assessment. And Elon Musk says SpaceXAI will become SpaceXSI.

The takeaway. Ownership in Africa is being rearranged on three fronts at once. European banks are handing their African subsidiaries to African buyers, and the most aggressive of those buyers is Moroccan. The continent's richest man has concluded that the best protection for a $16 billion asset is to let the governments around it own a piece. And in London, an English court is about to examine whether one of Uganda's largest fortunes was dismantled lawfully. The question running through all three is the same: who holds the asset when the politics turn. The investors who answer it before they write the cheque are the ones who keep what they build.

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Today's premium briefings:

Elite · Investor Memo — The State as Shareholder. Aliko Dangote is offering East African governments 30% of his Lamu refinery, with Kenya weighing about $500 million for 10%. Why Africa's richest man wants governments as co-owners, what it protects, what it costs him, and what Lagos taught him. In Investor Memo.
Executive · Deep-Dive Report — The New Lenders of West Africa. Société Générale is leaving Ghana and Attijariwafa is arriving. One by one, French banks are selling their African subsidiaries to African buyers, and the most ambitious buyer is Moroccan and royal-backed. What the shift means for who finances the region. In Deep-Dive Report.
Insider · The Inside Story — The Long Way Back. Expelled from Uganda at 16, Sudhir Ruparelia came home in 1985 with $25,000, opened the country's first forex bureau and built its largest indigenous bank. Then the central bank took it over. As his London trial opens, the story of the man and the bank. In The Inside Story.

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Figures are point-in-time estimates from public sources including Forbes, Bloomberg, company disclosures and exchange filings, as of reporting; a stake's value is not a measure of net or liquid wealth, and figures change with markets and currencies. Company valuations, revenues and share stakes are not measures of an individual's personal net worth, and where wealth is undisclosed or cannot be verified no figure is asserted. Legal matters are reported as matters of public record and attributed to their sources; allegations are contested and untested, individuals and companies are presumed to act lawfully absent a ruling, and those not accused of wrongdoing are noted as such. Editorial analysis, not investment, legal or tax advice. © 2026 Billionaires.Africa Inc.

African Wealth Briefing — Mon., Oct. 5, 2026

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