Jamaica’s Michael Lee-Chin ranked at 12 on the list of 15 black billionaires named by Forbes for 2022 with US$1.6 billion in net worth.

Lee-Chin is a majority investor in National Commercial Bank Jamaica, AIC Limited, and other companies.

Avery Newmark, writing for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, highlights that on Forbes’ new billionaire list notes that only 15 or less than one per cent are African or African-American.

Barbados National Hero Rihanna is new to the Forbes billionaire list ranking at number seven among persons of African descent with a net worth of US$1.7 billion.

On the full list, as of January 22, 2022, Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk is number one with a net worth valued at US$243 billion, ranking number one among the wealthy.

He was followed by Amazon’s founder and former CEO Jeff Bezos (net worth: US$168 billion). In third place is LVMH’s chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault, with approximately US$167 billion total net worth.

In fourth place was Microsoft head Bill Gates who ranked 4th with a personal wealth of US$129 billion.

On the list of 15 African Americans, Caribbean billionaires and African Americans, actor Tyler Perry places at number 15. Perry is an actor, director, producer and screenwriter. His net worth is US$1 billion

In 14th place is hip hop star Jay-Z: US$1.4 billion. In 13th place is Strive Masiyiwa, owner of mobile phone network Econet Wireless Zimbabwe. He has a net worth of: US$1.5 billion. Number 11 is Michael Jordan with a net worth of US$1.6 billion.

Number 10 is singer Rihanna with a net worth of $1.7 billion. Number nine is artist and entrepreneur Kanye West with net worth of $1.8 billion

Number 8 is co-founder and CEO of the software firm Palantir Technologies Alex Karp with net worth of US $2.1 billion. Number 7 is Oprah Winfrey with a net worth of US$2.7 billion.

Number six is founder and chairman of African Rainbow Minerals, South African mining businessmen Dr Patrice Motsepe: US$2.9 billion

Number five is David Steward, co-founder and chairman of World Wide Technology, an $11.2 billion IT provider whose customers include Citi, Verizon and the federal government. His net worth is US$3.7 billion.

Fourth is Abdulsamad Rabiu, founder of BUA Group, a Nigerian business group involved in sugar refining, cement production, real estate, steel, port concessions, manufacturing, oil, gas and shipping. His net worth is US$4.9 billion.

Third is Robert F Smith, founder of private equity firm Vista Equity Partners, which he founded in 2000. His net worth is US$6 billion.

Number two on the list of Africans and African descendants is Mike Adenuga who is said by Forbes to have made his first million at 26 selling lace and distributing soft drinks and built his fortune in telecom and oil production. His net worth is US $6.1 billion.

Number one is Nigerian Aliko Dangote with a net worth of US $11.5 billion. He founded and owns nearly 88 per cent of publicly-traded Dangote Cement, and also has stakes in other publicly-traded manufacturing companies.