Younger, Better Educated and Smart: Meet Africa's New Rich Millenials

Lagos-London is the eighth-fastest growing private-jet route in the world, and if you go to Wilson airport in Nairobi, it’s full of private jets.'

THE profile of a rich African is shifting from older males to younger, hip millennials who have found new ways to make and keep money in a changing global scene.

There will be 3,933 ultra-wealthy individuals on the continent by 2025, from 2,650 last year, according to the Knight Frank Wealth Report 2016.

In Kenya, for example, ultra high net worth individuals have increased 122% since 2005, rising 2% in 2015 alone, despite a struggling economy. Some of them are 20 to 30 year-olds. “The ultra-high net worth individual is younger in emerging markets, like China and Africa, than in developed markets,”  Andrew Shirley, editor of the report, told reporters in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

Younger, better educated
The entry of the younger and better educated people into the exclusive club in Africa is also bringing fresh and non-traditional ways in which the wealthy grow and spend their money.

More ultra-rich Africans are buying jets to avoid spending inordinate amounts of time in airport terminals waiting for the next connection to their destination on a continent with poor transport links, according to Shirley.

“The route from Lagos to London is the eighth-fastest growing private-jet route in the world,” Shirley said. “If you go to the Wilson airport in Nairobi, it’s full of private jets.”

Credit: Bloomberg News