Fortune’s 100 Most Powerful in Business List (2025) is a Tech Powerhouse — But Where Are Africa’s Billionaires?

Insights At a Glance:

• Jensen Huang (NVIDIA) is Fortune’s most powerful businessperson in 2025.
• Tech dominates the list with at least 50 of the 100 names rooted in innovation or AI.
• Only 19 women made it; many are doing amazing things in tech and finance.
• Africa is missing entirely, especially from a tech leadership perspective.

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When Fortune released its 2025 Most Powerful People in Business list on Monday, the top 10 was essentially a tech Avengers lineup. NVIDIA’s Jensen Huang at No. 1, Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, and Alphabet’s Sundar Pichai all in the mix. Even Elon Musk, despite his new side hustle of running DOGE, managed to cling onto the top 5.

But while the West and parts of Asia continue to produce tech titans with global influence, one glaring reality hit home for us here in Africa: not a single African name made the list. Not even our richest billionaires. And frankly, that’s both puzzling and disappointing especially when you consider where the world is clearly headed.

Over Half of the List Is Tech-Powered

Let’s crunch some quick numbers: of the 100 names Fortune ranked, more than 50 are directly tied to technology and innovation, including AI, semiconductors, software, social platforms, fintech, and EVs. Whether it’s Huang driving NVIDIA past a $4 trillion valuation, or Sam Altman reshaping AI conversations with OpenAI, it’s clear: if you’re not tech, you’re probably not top-tier anymore.

Fortune even admits it. Their criteria this year focused not on old-money influence, but on “the ability to shape the thoughts and actions of those around them.” Translation? Move fast, build real tech, or step aside.

Women Still Fighting for Space with 19 on the List

Yes, only 19 women made the cut. That’s still below the kind of parity we should be celebrating in 2025. However, those who did show up on the list are powerful in their own right, among them:

• Julie Sweet (Accenture, No. 11)
• Jane Fraser (Citigroup, No. 12)
• Lisa Su (AMD, No. 14)
• Ana Botín (Banco Santander, No. 20)
• Fresh faces like Tan Su Shan (DBS), Beth Ford (Land O’Lakes), and Bonnie Chan (HKEx)

What’s striking is how many of the women in tech are literally steering their companies into the future, while maintaining bottom lines. Meanwhile, some regions — including Africa — haven’t done nearly enough to push more women to such global heights.

We’ve grouped the most influential individuals by tech sector, revealing just how expansive and layered the industry’s reach has become:

Software, AI, and Cloud Computing

• Satya Nadella – Microsoft
• Sundar Pichai – Alphabet (Google)
• Sam Altman – OpenAI
• Julie Sweet – Accenture
• Andy Jassy – Amazon (AWS, E-commerce)
• Peter Thiel – Palantir Technologies, Founders Fund
• Jeff Bezos – Amazon
• Pony Ma (Huateng) – Tencent
• Bill Gates – Microsoft (Co-founder)
• Alex Karp – Palantir Technologies
• Dario and Daniela Amodei – Anthropic
• Shantanu Narayen – Adobe
• Christian Klein – SAP
• Marc Benioff – Salesforce
• Safra Catz – Oracle
• Larry Ellison – Oracle
• Sergey Brin and Larry Page – Alphabet (Google)
• Michael Bloomberg – Bloomberg L.P.

Hardware and Semiconductors

• Jensen Huang – Nvidia
• Ren Zhengfei – Huawei
• Lisa Su – AMD (Advanced Micro Devices)
• Tim Cook – Apple
• Lei Jun – Xiaomi
• C.C. Wei – TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company)
• Jay Y. Lee – Samsung
• Cristiano Amon – Qualcomm
• Christophe Fouquet – ASML Holding

E-commerce, Social Media, and Digital Services

• Mark Zuckerberg – Meta (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp)
• Joe Tsai – Alibaba Group
• Zhang Yiming – ByteDance (TikTok)
• Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters – Netflix
• Dara Khosrowshahi – Uber
• Brian Chesky – Airbnb
• Daniel Ek – Spotify
• Neal Mohan – YouTube
• Forrest Li – Sea Ltd (Garena, Shopee)
• Bob Iger – Disney (for Disney+)

Fintech and Cryptocurrency

• Brian Armstrong – Coinbase
• Vlad Tenev – Robinhood
• Patrick and John Collison – Stripe

Venture Capital and Tech Investment

• Masayoshi Son – SoftBank Group
• Yasir Al-Rumayyan – Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF)
• Marc Andreessen – Andreessen Horowitz (a16z)
• Reid Hoffman – LinkedIn (Co-founder), Greylock
• Garry Tan – Y Combinator
• Roelof Botha – Sequoia Capital
• Josh Kushner – Thrive Capital

Automotive and Battery Technology

• Elon Musk – Tesla, SpaceX, X
• Wang Chuanfu – BYD Company
• Mary Barra – General Motors
• Robin Zeng – CATL

Diversified Tech and Telecom

• Mukesh Ambani – Reliance Industries (Jio)
• Palmer Luckey – Anduril Industries (Defense Tech)

So, Where Is Africa in All This?

Let’s talk about the elephant that’s not in the room. No African CEO, founder, or even a serious tech innovator from the continent made the cut. Not Strive Masiyiwa, not Mitchell Elegbe, not even Tayo Oviosu, let alone Nigeria’s or Kenya’s thriving mobile money pioneers. And this isn’t just about representation. It’s about vision.

Africa’s wealthiest names, think Aliko Dangote, Nicky Oppenheimer, or Mike Adenuga, are primarily entrenched in legacy industries like cement, mining, telecom infrastructure, and oil. These might still make you billions on the continent, but according to global standards, they’re not where power lies anymore. Even Yasir Al-Rumayyan, chair of Saudi’s Public Investment Fund, made the list (No. 68). You’d think someone steering innovation via African mobile money, agri-tech, or solar connectivity would show up somewhere. But no.

Africa is home to the youngest population on Earth. We’re the fastest-growing mobile internet region. Yet, our billionaires and political elite are largely missing from global conversations about the future of technology, AI, clean energy, or space. We should be furious. Or at least a little embarrassed.

While Jensen Huang builds chips that power AI startups from Nairobi to Lagos, we’re still applauding billionaires for exporting raw materials and lobbying for oil pipelines. And sure, that keeps some lights on. But it’s not exactly setting the world on fire with innovation.

Thankfully, African tech founders are rising, even if they’re not billionaires (yet). They’re building platforms that matter. But they still operate in ecosystems that don’t reward long-term innovation or reinvest aggressively in R&D, AI, or deep tech. Until we support them; not just with applause, but with real funding, policy, and visibility, don’t expect an African on that Fortune list any time soon.

Below is the complete 2025 list of the top 100 most powerful businesspeople in the world:

1. Jensen Huang
2. Satya Nadella
3. Mark Zuckerberg
4. Elon Musk
5. Wang Chuanfu
6. Sundar Pichai
7. Ren Zhengfei
8. Sam Altman
9. Jamie Dimon
10. Mary Barra
11. Julie Sweet
12. Jane Fraser
13. Andy Jassy
14. Lisa Su
15. Tim Cook
16. Lei Jun
17. Peter Thiel
18. Jeff Bezos
19. Doug McMillon
20. Ana Patricia Botín
21. Joe Tsai
22. Akio Toyoda
23. Gregory Abel
24. Brian Moynihan
25. Pony Ma (Huateng)
26. Bill Gates
27. Warren Buffett
28. Tan Su Shan
29. Larry Fink
30. Robin Zeng
31. Thasunda Brown Duckett
32. Brian Armstrong
33. Alex Karp
34. Darren Woods
35. Bernard Arnault
36. David Solomon
37. Dario and Daniela Amodei
38. Shantanu Narayen
39. Christian Klein
40. C.C. Wei
41. Marta Ortega
42. Marc Rowan
43. Zhang Yiming
44. Abigail Johnson
45. Scott Nuttall and Joseph Bae
46. Dave Ricks
47. Jay Y. Lee
48. Charles Scharf
49. Joey Wat
50. Cristiano Amon
51. Beth Ford
52. Marc Benioff
53. Bonnie Chan
54. Safra Catz
55. Larry Ellison
56. Mukesh Ambani
57. Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters
58. Dara Khosrowshahi
59. Tadashi Yanai
60. Masayoshi Son
61. Tricia Griffith
62. Reshma Kewalramani
63. Nicolai Tangen
64. Brian Chesky
65. Emma Walmsley
66. Palmer Luckey
67. Bill Ackman
68. Yasir Al-Rumayyan
69. Daniel Ek
70. Marc Andreessen
71. Ken Griffin
72. Liang Wenfeng
73. Vlad Tenev
74. Jonathan Gray
75. Sergey Brin and Larry Page
76. Albert Bourla
77. Christophe Fouquet
78. Reid Hoffman
79. Ted Pick
80. Brian Niccol
81. Bob Iger
82. Patrick and John Collison
83. Neal Mohan
84. Nicolas Hieronimus
85. Stephen Schwarzman
86. Larry Culp
87. Guillaume Faury
88. Garry Tan
89. Roelof Botha
90. Mike Wirth
91. Charles Koch
92. Paul Singer
93. Josh Kushner
94. Paul Hudson
95. Michael Bloomberg
96. Gautum Adani
97. Forrest Li
98. Brian Sikes
99. Phebe Novakovic
100. Carol Tomé