New report shows Rwanda and Uganda’s gorilla safaris in the Virunga Mountains and the Bwindi Forest are also popular with this rich market.
7,100 multi millionaires are living in Africa, each with net assets of $10 million or more.
The report says that total private wealth held in Africa is also expected to rise by 34 per cent over the next 10 years.
Rwanda and Uganda are East Africa’s leading spots for wealth growth, and are projected to have some of the strongest performing wealth markets in Africa in the next 10 years.
This is according to the AfrAsia Bank Wealth Report, 2018, which also shows that the wealth held in Africa has risen by 13 per cent in the past decade, and by 3 per cent over the past year, with Mauritius topping the performing individual markets.
In terms of wealth growth in the past decade in East Africa, Rwanda led the region with 74 per cent rate, followed by Kenya at 73 per cent, then Tanzania at 66 per cent and Uganda at 56 per cent.
As at the end of 2017, Kenya topped the region with the highest wealth held by individuals at $104 billion, followed by Tanzania and Ethiopia at $60 billion each.
Within the continent, South Africa tops in having the wealthiest individuals — holding $722 billion — followed by Egypt at $330 billion and Nigeria at $253 billion.
The new report also shows that the average African individual has net assets of $2,000, with more than 148,000 high net worth individuals (HNWIs) living in Africa, each with net assets of $1 million or more. There are 7,100 multi-millionaires living in Africa, each with net assets of $10 million or more; over 320 centi-millionaires, each with net assets of $100 million or more; and 24 billionaires, each with net assets of $1 billion or more.
Growth
The report says that total private wealth held in Africa is also expected to rise by 34 per cent over the next 10 years, reaching $3.1 trillion by the end of 2027.
“We expect Mauritius, Ghana, Rwanda and Uganda to be the strongest performing wealth markets in Africa during this period (with 90 per cent to 150 per cent growth rates).
“Our projections for Ethiopia, Mozambique, Zambia, Kenya, Botswana and Namibia are also relatively solid (50 per cent to 80 per cent growth rates),” the report said.
Tanzania, South Africa, Angola, Morocco, Egypt, Ivory Coast, and Nigeria, however, have less favourable forecasts, albeit positive, at between 10 and 30 per cent, mostly due to policy and economic factors that are seeing high net worth individuals hold back investments within these countries.
The African luxury sector generated about $6 billion in revenue in 2017, mainly through the purchase of luxury cars, clothing and accessories, watches, private jets, yachts and luxury hotels and lodges.
A large portion of luxury sector revenue in Africa comes from luxury hotels and lodges, with South Africa being the main tourist destination.
In terms of wealthiest city, in East Africa, Nairobi beat its regional peers, holding more than $54 billion of private wealth held by the high net worth individuals.
The funds are invested in Kenya’s financial services, real estate and construction, retail, tourism, fast-moving consumer goods and telecommunication.
Dar es Salaam was second in the region, at $25 billion, followed by Kampala at $16 billion, and Mombasa at $8 billion.
On the continent, Johannesburg topped at $276 billion, followed by Cairo at $140 billion, then Lagos at $108 billion and Durban at $55 billion.
Residential property normally constitutes up to 35 per cent of the net assets of an average African HNWI, with the popular properties for them including luxury apartments, beachfront villas and homes in residential estates.
On this front, Nairobi and Mombasa were the region’s favourite property investment destinations for the region’s top dollar millionaires, followed by Kampala.
High-end resorts
The major South African destinations for wealthy people are Kruger National Park, Cape Town, Umhlanga and Franschhoek.
In the rest of the continent, major destinations included Mauritius, Seychelles, Marrakech and Casablanca in Morocco, Cairo and Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt, Serengeti in Tanzania, the Masai Mara game reserve in Kenya, Livingstone Falls in Zambia and the Okavango swamps in Botswana, the report says.
Rwanda and Uganda’s gorilla safaris in the Virunga Mountains and the Bwindi Forest are also popular with this rich market.
The report shows that they patronise the high-end hotels including La Mamounia in Morocco, the Four Seasons in Seychelles and the 12 Apostles Hotel & Spa in Cape Town.
In terms of game lodges Ngorongoro Crater Lodge in Tanzania, the Royal Livingstone in Zambia, Cottar’s 1920s Safari Camp in Kenya and Singita in South Africa remain as their favourite.
In April, the Knight Frank’s Wealth Report showed that Kenya had created 180 new dollar millionaires last year, growing the number of persons with a net worth of over $5 million to 1,290.
Out of the 1,290 dollar millionaires, 90 were worth $50 million with less 10 individuals estimated to have a net worth of over $500 million.
Over the same period, 40 Tanzanians entered the club of dollar millionaire’s worth over $5 million, pushing the countries’ total to 250.
