Christo Wiese, a South African billionaire, is widely regarded as a key retail king of Africa, largely through his association with the massive expansion of Shoprite Holdings, which is Africa's largest fast-moving consumer goods retailer. He is often cited for his influence in the grocery and clothing sectors.
The Shoprite Group is Africa's largest fast-moving consumer goods retailer. Its core business is in food retailing, complemented by furniture, pharmaceuticals, hospitality, ticketing, digital commerce, and financial and cellular services.
The largest supermarket chains in Africa are the Shoprite group and Choppies. International chains with the most supermarkets on the continent are Carrefour, Coopérative U, Auchan and SPAR.
2021. As of 2021, Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote is the richest person in Africa, and the African countries with the most billionaires are Egypt (5), South Africa (5), Nigeria (3), and Morocco (2).
According to the land survey conducted by the African Development Bank, 64 percent of the total land area of Africa is owned by the state and other institutions, while 36 percent is privately owned.
Africa's corporate landscape in 2025 is dominated by financial, telecom, and mining giants, with South Africa leading the rankings. Naspers retains its position as the continent's most valuable company with a valuation of $40.4 billion.
Future Proof: How will African brands thrive? You can't sum up a continent the size of Africa in three words, says Thebe Ikalafeng, founder and chairman of Brand Africa.
Walmart. Walmart remains the largest retailer in the world. It reported $635 billion in global revenue in fiscal 2024, of which $534 billion came from U.S. operations. The company earned around $9 billion in net income.
Reach into your pocket and you will probably find evidence of Tesco. Whether it is a Clubcard, mobile phone or just a receipt from one of its 3,000 stores, the UK's biggest retailer is engrained in everyday British life.
While Walmart has historically been the largest company by revenue, recent data from late 2024/early 2025 indicates that Amazon has surpassed Walmart in annual revenue, driven by its booming cloud computing (AWS) and e-commerce growth, though Walmart remains a dominant force in physical retail and is a strong competitor. The "bigger" title depends on the metric: Walmart for overall U.S. retail presence, Amazon for digital/cloud dominance and now overall revenue.
The Retail Index celebrates the UK's 100 fastest growing retail businesses, with matcha-based energy drink brand PerfectTed claiming the number one position in this year's ranking of Britain's fastest growing retailers.
Nigerian businessman Aliko Dangote is now the 83rd richest person in the world, overtaking Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich in the process. Nigerian businessman Aliko Dangote is now the 83r... His trailers are killing Nigerians more than COVID-19, and you're telling us about his rank.
Forbes wrote in the article: "FORBES: And then there's Davido's godfather, the business mogul Aliko Dangote, Africa's wealthiest person with estimated net worth of $13.5 billion. Davido says that Dangote drove him and his mother home from the hospital after his birth. "
