ALIKO DANGOTE
Aliko Dangote has become, without a doubt Africa’s leading industrialist and entrepreneur. His success proclaims the new Nigeria of today and tomorrow. It shows that behind all the brouhaha, Nigerians are beginning to take their rightful place as Africa’s leading entrepreneurs; thereby proclaiming Nigeria itself as a major frontier market in international relations.
At the age of 21, Aliko Dangote borrowed $3,000 from his uncle to import and sell agricultural commodities in Nigeria, his native country. His business venture quickly became a success, and as a result, he managed to repay the entire loan within three months of starting operations. For the seventh time in a row, Dangote was the richest man in Africa in 2018, with an estimated net worth of $14.1 billion. The business empire he began to build more than three decades ago, Dangote Group, is one of the largest privatesector employers in Nigeria as well as the most valuable conglomerate in West Africa
The rise in Dangote’s fortunes has been meteoric. In his own words: “About 10 years ago, I bought a company for $4 million.
It is worth $21 billion today.” Dangote made his first showing on
Forbes list of the world’s billionaires in 2008, with a
fortune estimated at $3.3 billion. By 2011, this had jumped by 400% to $13.8 billion. By November 2013, his fortune had jumped again to $20.8 billion, making him by far the richest man in Africa according to Forbes Magazine; and the 43rd richest man in the world.
Today, Dangote Group mills flour, processes salt, produces pasta and fertilizer. Its sugar refinery is the second-largest in the world, producing 800,000 tons annually. It is the main supplier of sugar to Nigeria’s soft drinks companies, breweries and confectioners. The Group exports cotton, cashew-nuts, cocoa, sesame seed and ginger to several countries. It also has major investments in real estate, banking, transport, textiles and oil and gas.
But the jewel in the crown of Dangote’s business conglomerate is his cement factories. Thanks mainly to Dangote, Nigeria no longer imports cement, but is a major world producer. In 2007, Dangote commissioned a one-billion dollar cement factory in Obajana, Nigeria; the largest in Africa. Dangote Cement now employs 26,000 workers in Nigeria alone. The company is also constructing cement plants in Cameroon, Ethiopia, the Republic of Congo, Senegal, South Africa, Zambia and several other African countries; making him the largest cement manufacturer in Africa. Dangote Cement is now valued at $20.5 billion, the first Nigerian company to surpass $20 billion in market capitalization. Indeed, Dangote Cement alone currently accounts for more than one-quarter of the total market capitalization of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.