Othman Benjelloun

Othman Benjelloun made his debut on Africa's 40 Richest list. His father was a large shareholder in a small Moroccan insurance company. Benjelloun took over in 1988, and built it into RMA Watanya, a leading insurance company. He then used it to expand into banking. His publicly traded BMCE Bank is present in more than a dozen African countries (due to an acquisition of Bank of Africa), and has a market capitalization of $4 billion. His holding company Groupe FinanceCom has also interests in telecom, airlines, and information technology. Son Kamal, a clean tech enthusiast, is heir apparent.