At home or abroad, manufacturing has created more billionaires than any other sector in the past decade, a clear signal that wealth creation still rests heavily on industry, scale, and physical production.
A 2025 Knight Frank Wealth report revealed that in 2024, 46 new billionaires emerged from the sector. Yet, Nigeria continues to underinvest in the very sector that has produced its two wealthiest citizens.
According to the London-based real estate consultancy, between 2014 and 2024, the manufacturing industry minted 509 new billionaires globally, ahead of technology (443), finance and investments (353), fashion and retail (318), real estate (228), and media and entertainment (110).
While technology has produced some of the world’s most recognisable billionaires, the data suggest that manufacturing remains the most reliable billionaire-making machine.
This also holds in Africa. The continent’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, and Nigeria’s second richest man, Abdulsamad Rabiu, owe their fortunes to cement, sugar, and other manufacturing ventures.
Their companies dominate Nigeria’s market with a combined N25.752 trillion in market capitalisation. That’s well over a quarter of the Nigerian bourse, estimated at N90.2 trillion.
Of the three most capitalised companies in Africa’s most populous nation, manufacturing leads with two. BUA Foods, controlled by Rabiu, boasts of N10.3 trillion in market cap. It’s followed by MTN Nigeria, which is in the telecommunications sector, and Dangote Cement.
For Nigeria, a thriving manufacturing sector goes beyond global billionaire rankings. It is pivotal to productivity, job creation, and export competitiveness.
Even with more than 3 million people entering the labour market annually, Nigeria’s unemployment rates remain stubbornly high. Manufacturing is labour-intensive, and Nigeria has one of the youngest populations on the planet. The sector can employ millions directly in factories and indirectly across value chains such as logistics, packaging, distribution, and retail.
Analysts and key players have continued to urge the government to diversify the economy. With oil still accounting for over 85 percent of export earnings, Nigeria is dangerously exposed to price volatility.
Exporting manufactured goods offers a pathway to stability. Processing raw materials locally retains more income within the economy, boosts GDP per capita, and builds technical capabilities that drive long-term competitiveness.
Strengthening domestic supply chains is equally important. Nigeria’s dependence on imports for basic items, from food to industrial inputs, has eroded reserves and weakened the naira.
A more vibrant base would cut import bills, reduce forex demand, and keep more wealth circulating locally. Subsectors such as agro-processing and consumer goods present immediate opportunities where Nigeria has both raw material endowment and a large internal market.
Despite this potential, Nigeria’s manufacturing sector remains hamstrung by chronic headwinds: unreliable power supply, poor transport infrastructure, foreign exchange volatility, and inconsistent industrial policies.
While countries like India and China implemented deliberate strategies such as subsidised energy, export promotion, and industrial perks, Nigeria has struggled with short-term fixes rather than long-term industrial policies.
The Knight Frank data is more than a global ranking. It is a mirror of possibilities that Nigeria is well poised to achieve. Manufacturing is not just another sector in Nigeria’s expansive economy. It is the anchor that can determine whether the country escapes the cycle of low growth, high unemployment, and overdependence on oil.
Around the world, the most successful economies have used industrial production to build scale, generate wealth, and deepen economic resilience. For Nigeria, the case for prioritising manufacturing is even more urgent.
If Nigeria shifts its policy lens from consumption-driven growth to production-driven growth, manufacturing could reduce import dependence, expand exports, and ultimately lift millions out of poverty.
Without this shift, Africa’s most populous nation risks being left behind while the rest of the world continues to mint fortunes from factories and industrial hubs.
