Naushad Merali, a diversified Kenyan self-made millionaire, ranked 39 in Forbes latest list of Africa’s 40 richest. He ranked 21 places below Uganda’s Sudhir Ruparelia, a real estate tycoon and 9 places below Tanzania’s Said Salim Bakhresa, who according to Forbes stopped school at the age of 14 to sell potato mix.

According to Forbes, Mereli’s net worth as of November 2012 stood at USD 410 million.

In 2000 with French media giant Viveendi, he launched Kencell, now Airtel. In 2004, he convinced Vivendi to sell him its 60 percent stake for USD 230 million. An hour later, he flipped it to billionaire Mo Ibrahim’s Africa-focused Celtel for USD 250 million, earning him a quick USD 20 million profit in a spun of an hour.

Mereli now heads Sameer Group, a 15-company conglomerate with activities in construction, agriculture, information technology, telecom and finance. Three of his companied are listed on the Nairobi Stock Exchange and he serves as chairman of mobile phone company Bharti Airtel’s Kenya operations.

Previously on the list was Uhuru Kenyatta, Kenya’s Deputy Prime Minister, who ranked 26 in Forbes 2011 list of Africa Richest. Also on the list was Chris Kirubi, a Kenyan entrepreneur with an empire spanning real estate, manufacturing and investments.

Back to the 2012 Forbes list of Africa’s 40 richest. Top on the list was Aliko Dangote, Nigerian self-made billionaire with a net worth of USD 12 billion as of November 2012. Second on the list was South Africa’s Nicky Oppenheimer and family who have a net worth of USD 6.4 billion as of November 2012. Third on the list was also South African Johann Rupert and family whose net worth stood at USD 5.7 billion as of November 2012.

In as much as Kenya only had one representative among Africa’s 40 richest, it is among the 8 African states which were represented on the list. The country with the most representatives was South Africa which featured 12 of its richest, Nigeria which features 11 of its richest, Egypt which had 8 representatives and Morocco which had 5 representatives. Uganda, Tanzania, Angola and Kenya had 1 representative each.

Click here for the complete list of Forbes Africa’s 40 Richest.