Forbes.com released a list of Africa’s 20 most powerful business people yesterday (they do like a list over there at Forbes) and it wasn’t too hard to pick up a trend on the list of the continent’s commercial high flyers – no less than 12 of them are South African.

The author of the Forbes list does point out, right at the start, that the list is subjectively compiled, and it’s not ranked from first to twentieth in terms of wealth or influence, so if we get a little sciencey it’s not exactly clear how these twenty big shots are grouped together, other than being powerful, influential and wealthy all at once.

Cyril Ramaphosa of the Shanduka Group is politically influential in the ANC, and is often tipped to be the next President of South Africa.

And here they are. I’ve listed the 12 South Africans first in alphabetical order, followed by the other eight others:

Raymond Ackerman – Founder of Pick n Pay, one of South Africa’s largest retailers, with 794 stores across Southern Africa, and even Mauritius and Australia.

Koos Bekker – CEO of Naspers, Africa’s largest media conglomerate. The group owns significant media and internet interests in South Africa (such as DStv and Media24) as well as others in over 120 countries.

Brian Joffe – CEO of Bidvest Group, one of Africa’s largest conglomerates with interests as diverse as finance, shipping and food service.

Marius Kloppers – CEO of BHP Billiton, the world’s largest mining company which posted a US$25 billion profit last year alone.

Jacko Maree – CEO of Standard Bank Group, Africa’s largest financial services conglomerate which operates in 33 countries.

Patrice Motsepe – Executive Chairman of African Rainbow Minerals, and also the US$5 billion company’s largest shareholder.

Nonkululeko Nyembezi-Heita – CEO of ArcelorMittal SA, the world’s (troubled) largest steel producer.

Nicky Oppenheimer – Chairman of the De Beers Group, the world’s largest producer of rough diamonds. Oppenheimer is also South Africa’s richest man.

Cyril Ramaphosa – Executive Chairman of Shanduka Group, a powerful investment holding company with stakes in mining, food and beverages, telecoms, insurance and real estate. Ramaphosa is also a senior member of the ANC whose name often comes up when conversation turns to the next President of South Africa.

Maria Ramos – CEO of the Absa Group, South Africa’s second largest financial services group by market capitalization. Previously, Ramos served as the country’s Director General for the National Treasury, and as Group Chief Executive of Transnet Limited, the state-owned rail, pipeline and ports agency.

Johann Rupert – Chairman of Richemont (a Swiss luxury goods company), Reinet Investments SCA, and Remgro. The latter two are holding companies with significant investments in mining, tobacco, financial services and media.

Christo Wiese – Chairman of Shoprite, Africa’s largest retailer. Wiese also owns a controlling stake in Pepkor.

South Africa’s richest man, Nicky Oppenheimer of De Beers.

The other eight candidates may not be locals, but they are certainly no slouches in the business stakes- their ranks include Africa’s richest man.

Sheikh Mohammed Al-Amoudi – Chairman of MIDROC Ethiopia Investment Group

Born in Ethiopia but raised in Saudi Arabia, Al-Amoudi is Ethiopia’s biggest investor. In February this year, he announced a US$3.4 billion investment in Ethiopia through his MIDROC Ethiopia Investment Group.

Manu Chandaria – Chairman of the Comcraft Group

Kenyan-born Chandaria is chairman of the Comcraft Group, a US$2 billion industrial conglomerate which produces steel, plastics, and aluminium products from manufacturing facilities in 45 countries, 16 of which are in Africa.

Aliko Dangote – President of the Dangote Group

The Nigerian-born commodities tycoon is founder and president of the Dangote group, and also Africa’s richest man.

Tony Elumelu – Executive Chairman of Heirs Holdings and the Tony Elumelu Foundation

The Nigerian-born banker and financial services tycoon left that industry to found Heirs Holdings, an Africa-focused holding company that invests in African companies. He also founded the Tony Elumelu Foundation, an influential non-profit organisation.

Strive Masiyiwa – Executive Chairman of Econet Wireless

Zimbabwe’s richest man is the founder and executive chairman of Econet Wireless, a publicly-listed mobile telecoms company with operations across Eastern Africa.

Naushad Merali – Chairman of the Sameer Group

The bulk of this Kenyan-born tycoon’s power and fortune comes from his ownership of one of East Africa’s largest conglomerates- the US$2 billion Sameer Group which owns some of the most popular companies in the Kenya’s financial services, construction, agriculture, energy and ICT sectors.

Naguib Sawiris – Founder of Orascom Telecom Holding

The eldest son of Egyptian Onsi Sawiris built Orascom Telecom into Egypt’s dominant cellphone company before merging the firm with a Russian telecoms giant last year in a US$6.5 billion deal. He’s among the company’s largest individual shareholders. Sawiris also wields significant clout in his country’s politics.

Onsi Sawiris – Founder of the Orascom Group

The Orascom Group has its roots in an Egyptian construction company built up by Sawiris in the 1970s. Today the group is run by his sons and has interests in telecoms, infrastructure, hotels and tourism.

Africa’s richest man, Dangote Group President, Aliko Dangote

You can see the whole list with more of the details on these titans of industry over at Forbes.com

[Other sources: Businesstech.co.za, Forbes, Saharanvibe, WordPress]