Crossword Genius

Former African state captures one large creature for wealthy individual (11)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

zillionaire

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'former african state captures one' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I cannot tell whether it can be defined by this definition.

'large creature for wealthy individual' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'large' could be 'l' (eg in clothes sizes) and 'l' is located in the answer.
'creature' could be 'lion' (I've seen this before) and 'lion' is present in the answer.
'individual' could be 'i' (Roman numeral for one) and 'i' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'zaire' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for zillionaire that I've seen before include "magnate" , "chap stupendously wealthy" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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