Who Really Wins When Africa’s Richest Leave and Its Resources Don’t?

“My money is African. My safety plan isn’t.”
— Lagos-based founder, off-record

In Lagos, a 41-year-old payments executive we’ll call Tunde has three spreadsheets open.

The first is his Nigeria sheet: a stake in a mid-market fintech, a growing private-credit book into importers, and two apartments in Lekki that pay in naira.

The second is his escape sheet: a UK brokerage account, a Dubai condo he barely visits, and a residency-by-investment application that covers his spouse and two children.

The third is the one that keeps him up at night — a messy tab titled “Split” where he tries to answer a simple question:

How much of my wealth can live in Nigeria and Congo-style markets, and how much must live in Tier 1 safety — even if the best yields are back home?

He’s not unusual. He’s the new normal.

Across Africa, an estimated 30% of all financial wealth is already held offshore, costing governments about $14bn per year in lost tax revenue. A UNCTAD study puts illicit financial flows from the continent at roughly $88.6bn a year, equivalent to almost 4% of Africa’s total GDP.

At the same time, Africa’s millionaire population is projected to grow by around 65% over the next decade, making it the fastest-growing wealth region in the world.

More wealth is being created. More of it is leaving.

And nowhere does this contradiction show up more starkly than in Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) — two countries that sit at the heart of global oil and critical-minerals supply chains, but where many of the people closest to the money are building lives and balance sheets that point outward.

This is a story about your allocation decisions if you’re part of that mobility class:
home as yield vs abroad as safety.

Africa’s “split balance sheet”

Big picture:
Africa, as a whole, sends more money out to the rest of the world than it receives (even after counting aid and foreign investment). A lot of that money doesn’t come back—it ends up parked in places like anonymous companies, private bank accounts, or real estate in cities such as Dubai and London.

Because so much money escapes:

• Governments collect less tax than they should.
• To make up the gap, they often raise taxes, tighten rules, and demand more financial reporting.

Why Nigeria and DRC stand out

Nigeria

Nigeria has:

• A huge population and strong business talent
• Big opportunity
• But not enough investment in basics like power, transport, and logistics

So Nigeria should attract local money. But many wealthy people and investors earn in Nigeria and then move their wealth abroad.

What the data is saying :

• Nigeria reportedly has far fewer millionaires than it did 10 years ago.
• Many Nigerian millionaires are expected to relocate, taking significant cash with them.

Meaning: Nigeria can produce top-level returns, but many of the people benefiting most don’t keep their wealth in Nigeria.

DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo)

DRC is extremely important because:

• It produces a massive share of the world’s cobalt (critical for EV batteries and energy storage)
• It’s also big in copper

But the big issue isn’t only money leaving—it’s that global players control a lot of what comes in and what goes out, often through contracts and ownership structures that favor outsiders.

Nigeria: “Profit at home, safety abroad”

Think of a businessperson like Tunde. He’s not running away from Nigeria. He’s doing something very common:

What he keeps in Nigeria (because the returns are strong)

• A stake in a local fintech (earns naira but effectively benefits from dollar-linked pricing)
• Short-term private lending deals tied to imports (can produce strong returns)
• Real estate in Lekki (to protect against inflation and as bank-friendly collateral)

What he keeps offshore (because it feels safer)

• A UK investment account (ETFs, global markets)
• A UAE company that holds dollars and invoices clients
• A Dubai property (lifestyle + backup plan)

So his strategy is basically:

• Nigeria = high returns (but higher risk)
• Offshore = safety, stability, and easier long-term wealth growth

Now multiply Tunde by thousands, and you get:

• Fewer wealthy people keeping money fully inside Nigeria
• More bankers, tax advisers, and migration consultants helping people move assets
• A government worried about FX pressure, low taxes collected, and public suspicion around wealth

Bottom line for investors: Nigeria will likely keep offering high-return opportunities, but moving money in and out may get tougher over time.

DRC: “Cobalt money, but global control”

In DRC, wealth often gets built around mining—licenses, royalties, logistics, services around mines. But many local elites protect themselves by placing the “safe” part of their wealth outside the country:

Onshore (where the risk is)

• Mining licenses and joint ventures
• Road/rail/power/security linked to mines
• Local service businesses around extraction

Offshore (where the protection is)

• Holding companies in places like Mauritius or Dubai
• Property and investment accounts in places like London, Paris, Brussels, Johannesburg
• Family members with foreign passports or long-term residency options

Unlike Nigeria’s Tunde, many DRC operators can’t fully exit—their main assets are literally in the ground. So instead they try to:

• Use foreign legal systems for contracts (English/Swiss law)
• Get paid into more stable banking systems
• Structure deals so they can refinance or sell parts of future mining income internationally

In simple terms:
From outside, DRC looks like politics and geopolitics. From inside, it’s also a survival strategy:
“How do we make money here, without leaving our entire family fortune trapped here?”

The triangle: home, hub, anchor

Whether you’re tied to Nigeria, DRC or both, one pattern keeps emerging in HNWI strategies:

Home for yield. Tier 2 for structure. Tier 1 for safety.

Think of it as a mobility and capital triangle:

1. Home (Nigeria / DRC)
   • Where you understand risk best.
   • Where you can generate genuine alpha because you know the players, the politics and the demand.
   • Where your relationships, networks and track record are strongest.
2. Tier 2 hubs (UAE, Mauritius, South Africa, Rwanda, Jersey/Guernsey)
   • Provide company vehicles, treaties, banking and tax planning.
   • Sit “in the middle” culturally and operationally — familiar with African realities, but plugged into global finance.
   • Often house regional PE, infra and credit funds targeting deals like the ones you see at home.
3. Tier 1 anchors (UK, EU, US, Canada, Singapore)
   • Deep, liquid markets; hard currencies; predictable courts.
   • Anchor your long-term compounding and intergenerational wealth.
   • Often tied to your family’s mobility: student visas, work permits, residencies, second passports.

The traditional playbook was: make money “back home”, buy safety abroad.

The updated version is more deliberate:

• Consciously decide what must stay onshore to earn its return — and accept the risk there.
• Consciously decide what must move offshore to survive — and accept lower returns in exchange for safety.
• Use Tier 2 hubs not as tax tricks, but as operating platforms for a genuinely international life.

Building your own split balance sheet (on purpose)

If you’re reading this chances are you’re already somewhere on this journey. Here’s a practical way to stress-test your current strategy.

1. Map your wealth by jurisdiction

Open your own “Split” spreadsheet and list:

• Every property, business stake, loan, portfolio and policy.
• Who legally owns it (you, spouse, company, trust).
• Where it’s registered and where disputes would be settled.
• What currency it earns in and what currency it’s worth in.

You’ll almost always find hidden concentrations:

• Too much illiquid onshore exposure that would be hard to sell in a crisis.
• Too little hard-currency liquidity in safe jurisdictions.
• Assets held in your personal name that really should sit in structures.

2. Decide what must stay home for now

In Nigeria, “stay home” candidates often include:

• Equity in profitable SMEs with real moats: logistics, manufacturing, FMCG, health, energy, payments.
• Secured private credit where you have line of sight on collateral and enforcement.
• Urban real estate in locations with genuine, persistent demand, especially when leases are dollar-linked or indexed.

In DRC, onshore anchors might be:

• Stakes or royalty streams in producing or near-producing copper/cobalt assets with credible partners.
• Logistics and power concessions tied to mining corridors.
• Established service businesses with long-term mine contracts.

The test is simple: do you have genuine edge here? If yes, this is where you accept higher risk for higher return.

3. Decide what should migrate

Candidates for migration:

• Cash buffers — at least 12–24 months of family and operating expenses in hard currency, held in strong jurisdictions.
• Long-term compounding capital — index funds, global diversified portfolios, high-grade bonds.
• IP and holding structures — where possible, own African assets through vehicles in treaty-friendly hubs.

This is where Mauritius, UAE, Jersey, South Africa, Rwanda and similar hubs become more than buzzwords. They’re the midpoints where you can:

• Bank in hard currency.
• Access regional and global managers.
• Cleanly separate family ownership from operating risk.

4. Align your passports with your portfolio

Nothing is more painful than having your family stuck where your capital isn’t welcome, or vice versa.

Practical steps:

• If you already qualify for EU, UK or North American residency, treat that as infrastructure, not a vanity project. Align your banking, investment accounts and education plans with it.
• For many African HNWIs, UAE, Mauritius and South Africa are powerful mid-tier bases: closer to home, easier to access, with robust financial ecosystems.
• For DRC-linked families with historic ties to Belgium or France, formalizing status can be a critical safety valve.

Migration programs evolve quickly. Work with regulated advisors and independent lawyers, not just sales agents.

5. Get ahead of compliance

With Africa losing tens of billions through illicit channels and offshore leakage, regulators at home and abroad are under pressure. Expect more:

• Enhanced due diligence on African-origin funds.
• Information-sharing between tax authorities.
• Scrutiny of PEPs (politically exposed persons) and anyone adjacent.

Your best defense is boring:

• Clean, audited accounts where possible.
• Documented source of funds for every significant transfer.
• Consistency between home-country tax filings and what your foreign banks see.

The upside? Once you’re known as a clean, transparent client, your options expand — not shrink.

The risks of getting it wrong

This is not a game of perfect. But three mistakes show up again and again:

1. All-in at home
   • High-yield domestic assets, no real offshore liquidity, weak mobility plan.
   • Looks great in good years; becomes a trap when FX moves, policies shift, or security deteriorates.
2. All-out too early
   • Panic exits into Tier 1 assets at the worst time, crystallizing FX losses and giving up genuine local upside.
   • Feels safe, but leaves you overexposed to crowded global trades where you have no edge.
3. Grey strategies
   • Half-structured, semi-hidden routes for moving money that depend on one banker or one loophole.
   • Works until it doesn’t — and when it fails, it tends to fail catastrophically.

The whole point of a conscious split balance sheet is to avoid these extremes.

Why this matters now

Over the next decade:

• Africa’s millionaire population is projected to grow by around 65%.
• DRC’s cobalt and copper will remain central to EVs, defence, and grid storage, even as chemistries evolve.
• Nigeria’s demographic and human-capital story isn’t going away — but neither are its FX and governance challenges.

At the same time:

• Governments are under pressure to capture more tax, more royalties and more “patriotic” investment.
• Tier 1 regulators are under pressure to tighten AML and tax enforcement on high-risk jurisdictions.
• The middle hubs — UAE, Mauritius, South Africa, Rwanda, Jersey — are in a quiet competition to become the preferred platforms for precisely your type of capital.

You don’t control those macro forces. You do control how prepared you are.

The Takeaway

If your income or assets touch Nigeria or DRC, you are not a spectator in the war for Tier 1 capital. You are the prize.

• Tier 1 economies want your resources and returns.
• Tier 2/3 hubs want your structures and flows.
• Your home country wants your taxes, loyalty and presence.
• Your family wants stability and options.

A split balance sheet — done consciously, cleanly and strategically — is how you reconcile those demands without tearing your life in half.

Over the coming months, I-Invest will deepen this series with:

• Case studies of Lagos and Kinshasa-based wealth holders.
• Practical diagrams of home–hub–anchor capital stacks.
• Checklists for building your own Africa + offshore allocation.

For now, the question is simple, and it belongs in the title bar of your own spreadsheet:

What part of my wealth must stay to grow — and what part has to move to survive?

That’s the decision that will shape not just your returns, but your family’s story over the next 3–10 years.

Sources (for further reading)

• Henley & Partners, Africa Wealth Report 2025 and related commentary on millionaire trends and projections. (Henley & Partners)
• Henley Private Wealth Migration Report 2025, as summarised by Nigerian media on projected millionaire outflows. (Punch Newspapers)
• Oxfam and Africanews analysis on offshore African wealth and tax losses. (Africanews)
• UNCTAD and related UN reports on illicit financial flows from Africa. (UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD))
• Academic and policy work on DRC cobalt reserves, production and Chinese control, plus recent reporting on export controls and the Gécamines–Mercuria partnership. (ScienceDirect)