Dangote retains Africa’s richest man title 8th consecutive year

President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, who was ranked Africa’s richest man in the 2019 Forbes Africa’s Billionaires latest list, has remained consistently ahead of the pack for the eighth consecutive year, with a current net worth of $10.3 billion.

The industrialist, who has now topped Africa’s rich list for a record eight times, emerged the continent’s richest man for the first time in March 2011, with a net worth of $13.8 billion, according to a similar annual report from Forbes.

Analysts also believe that the business mogul’s fortune would increase dramatically in the next few years, when his Group’s refinery, petrochemical and fertiliser plants, which have so far gulped more than $12bn, finally come on-stream to boost Nigeria and Africa’s crude oil refining and supply, with thousands of jobs expected to be created by the conglomerate.

Dangote, in a citation by Forbes, founded and chairs Dangote Cement, the continent’s largest cement producer and the biggest stock on the Nigeria Stock Exchange. He owns nearly 88% of the publicly-traded Dangote Cement through a holding company. It noted that the cement giant produces 44 million metric tonnes annually and plans to increase its output 33% by 2020. Dangote also owns stakes in publiclytraded salt, sugar and flour manufacturing companies.

Dangote, chairman of the Aliko Dangote Foundation, was also ranked by Forbes as the 66th most powerful person on earth, ahead of Mike Pence, US Vice-president in May 2018. In the American business magazine’s 75-person list, Dangote clinched the second position in Africa, trailing President Abdel Fattah el-sisi of Egypt, who was ranked 45th.

Both men were the only Africans on the list. Dangote moved up five places from his 2017 ranking of 71. He was also ranked number 100 among the record 2,208 billionaires in 72 countries across the world in 2018 in a Forbes publication released in March 2018.

In confirmation of his ever-bludgeoning status, Dan- gote was also named as the sixth most charitable man in the world. The philanthropist, who endowed his foundation to the tune of $1.25 billion, was recently recognised and highlighted by Richtopia, a digital periodical that covers business, economics, and financial news, based in the United Kingdom.

He was quoted to have once said that, beyond being known as Africa’s richest man, he would also like to be known as the continent’s biggest philanthropist. He started the Aliko Dangote Foundation in 1981, with a mission to enhance opportunities for social change through strategic investments that improve health and wellbeing, promote quality education, and broaden economic empowerment opportunities.