200 more Kenyans join dollar millionaires club

Dollar notes [Courtesy]

Two hundred Kenyans have been added to the list of dollar millionaires in the last one year, with the country's private wealth ranked fifth in Africa.

Ten more individuals exceeded a net worth of $10 million (Sh1.15 billion) and the annual wealth rankings revealed that Kenya now has 15 centi-millionaires – people with a net worth of at least $100 million (Sh11.5 billion).

The Africa Wealth Report 2022 firmly placed Kenya as one of Africa’s “Big 5” private wealth markets that account for over half of the continent’s total wealth. The rest of the countries, from the wealthiest, are South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria and Morocco.

The gap between Kenya’s rich and poor continued to widen amid a raging Covid-19 pandemic that devastated millions of livelihoods.

The report reviews Africa’s wealth sector and was this year a partnership between South African wealth intelligence firm New World Wealth and Henley & Partners.

It shows that Kenya has 8,500 individuals with a net worth of over $1 million (Sh115.7 million), up from 8,300 in the 2021 report and ranks fourth.

South Africa (39,300) has the highest followed by Egypt (16,900), Nigeria (10,000) and Morocco (5,000).

Kenya has 340 individuals worth $10 million (Sh1.15 billion) or more, placing fourth behind Nigeria (510), Egypt (880) and South Africa (2,080). It had 330 such individuals in 2021.

Kenya is ranked fifth in Africa on centi-millionaires behind Morocco with 22, Nigeria's 28, Egypt (57) and South Africa (94).

“There are currently 136,000 dollar millionaires living in Africa, along with 305 centi-millionaires and 21 dollar billionaires as at December 2021,” said New World Wealth Head of Research Andrew Amoils.

In terms of total wealth, Kenya has $91 billion (Sh10.5 trillion) and is ranked fifth. South African citizens have the greatest combined wealth at $651 billion, followed by Egypt ($307 billion) and Nigeria ($228 billion).

According to the report, total wealth refers to the private wealth held by all the individuals living in a country including all their assets such as property, cash, equities and business interests, less any liabilities. It excludes government funds.

Mr Amoils said total private wealth held in Africa is expected to rise by 38 per cent over the next 10 years in US dollar terms, pushed by strong growth in the technology and professional services sectors.

South Africa is home to the largest luxury market in Africa by revenue, followed by Kenya and then Morocco, said the report.

“Major components of this include luxury hotels and lodges, cars, clothing and accessories, watches, private jets and yachts.”

Major destinations in Kenya for the wealthy included the Masai Mara. Cottar’s 1920s Camp and the & Beyond Bateleur Camp were ranked among the top African safari lodges.

Top five luxury cars for HNWIs included Range Rover, Porsche Cayenne, Mercedes GLE, BMW X6 and the Bentley Bentayga.