new york three persons of indianorigin are among the 50 richest people in africa according to a list released by forbes magazine which said rising stock prices and new business deals are creating more billionaires in the continent vimal shah sudhir ruparelia and naushad merali figure in the list which has been topped by aliko dangote who has a networth of usd 208 billion and is the largest cement manufacturer in subsaharan africa shah is a newcomer on the list and ranks 18 with a networth of usd 16 billion as of november 2013 the 53yearold asiankenyan is the ceo of bidco oil refineries the largest manufacturer of edible oils in east and central africa and manufactures detergents soaps baking powder and canola as well as other edible oils in 1985 shah his father and younger brother started manufacturing soaps and in 2002 acquired a significant portion of unilevers edible oil businesses bidco grossed over usd 500 million in annual revenues and its products are manufactured sold and distributed in 14 countries across africa ruparelia ranks 24 on the list and has a networth of usd 11 billion the 57yearold chairs the ruparelia group a ugandan property and banking conglomerate that owns hundreds of ugandan properties hotels a chain of foreign exchange bureaus a business that grows and exports roses and crane bank the countrys thirdlargest commercial bank ruparelia is however facing some legal troubles after ugandan environmentalists sued his rose business claiming the farms activities were threatening the worlds largest freshwater lake ruparelia has denied any wrongdoing on the 48th spot is merali with a networth of usd 430 million the 62yearold asiankenyan tycoon is the founder of the sameer group a conglomerate with activities in construction agriculture information technology telecom and finance merali also serves as chairman of mobile phone major bharti airtels kenya operations the list is forbes third annual compilation of africas richest the average networth of each list member is usd 21 billion and the total wealth of africas 50 richest is usd 1038 billion the number of 10figure fortunes in africa has surged to 27 up from 16 a year ago on the back of rising stock prices and new business deals forbes calculated networths using stock prices and exchange rates as on november 1 this year