6. Taha Mikati

GLOBAL RANK: 1,249

NET WORTH 2021: $2.5 billion CHANGE: +$300 million

AGE: 76 COUNTRY: Lebanon SECTOR: Telecom

Taha Mikati is the cofounder, with his billionaire brother

Najib, of Beirut-based holding company

M1 Group. Its investments include stakes in South

African telecom firm MTN, fashion retailer Pepe Jeans, and prime real estate in New York, London and Monaco. Mikati and his brother Najib founded Investcom in 1982, selling satellite phones at the height of Lebanon’s civil war. They expanded into Africa where they built cellphone towers in Ghana, Liberia and Benin, among other countries. In 2005, Investcom went public on the London Stock Exchange, and in 2009, South Africa’s MTN bought the Mikatis’ stake for $3.6 billion.