How Baba Ahmadou Danpullo’s Marble Towers drives hard-currency rental income

Cameroon’s richest man, Baba Ahmadou Danpullo, has built one of Africa’s most resilient property portfolios, with South Africa serving as a strategic anchor.

At the center of that strategy stands Marble Towers, a 152.1-meter (499 feet) commercial skyscraper in Johannesburg’s Central Business District that generates stable rental income and reinforces its cross-border diversification model. 

A Johannesburg landmark asset
Completed in 1973 and originally known as the Sanlam Centre, Marble Towers rises 32 storeys and remains one of Johannesburg’s most recognizable office buildings.

The property is predominantly leased to corporate tenants across financial services and professional sectors, ensuring consistent rental flows in hard currency.

Unlike mixed-use developments, Marble Towers is purely a commercial office asset, a structure that shields it from hospitality-sector volatility. Its location at the intersection of Jeppe and Von Wielligh Streets positions it at the heart of Johannesburg’s economic activity.

Performance and portfolio positioning
While South Africa’s broader office market has faced vacancy pressures in recent years, prime-positioned assets like Marble Towers continue to attract long-term tenants.

Compared with the previous year’s market softness, Danpullo’s commercial strategy has prioritized tenant retention and stable yields over speculative expansion.

The tower remains a core income-generating asset within the Baba Ahmadou Group’s wider holdings, which include shopping centers and office buildings across Johannesburg, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Nigeria, France and Switzerland.

Diversification as a wealth strategy
Danpullo’s real estate strategy emphasizes hard-currency income, geographic spread and risk hedging. In a year marked by economic adjustments across emerging markets, his South African assets continue to serve as a defensive pillar.

Marble Towers is more than a skyscraper, it represents disciplined asset allocation, cross-border diversification and the structural resilience of commercial property as a long-term wealth vehicle.