Dangote Group’s revenue to hit $30bn in 2019

Africa’s richest man and President of Dangote Group, Alikote Dangote, has said the revenue of the group will hit $30 billion by 2020.

Dangote also said the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement signed by most African countries would fail except they started massive production of goods on African soil.

Forty-four African countries have already signed up to the trade agreement aimed at paving the way for a liberalised market for goods and services across the continent.

However, Nigeria has not signed up to it as the country’s top officials said the AfCFTA was still being studied.

Speaking yesterday as one of the panelists in the first Presidential Investment Chat at the ongoing Africa Investment Forum holding in Johannesburg, South Africa, Alhaji Dangote said the AfCFTA would not work until African countries made policy that discouraged importation and encouraged massive production of goods locally.

Dangote, who discussed investment in Africa, along with President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, and Chairman of Al-Ghurair Group, Abdul Aziz Al-Ghurair, also said countries in Africa should at least have minimum of 80 to 85 per cent local content in production of goods and products.

He said, “Nobody would come and develop Africa except Africans themselves; only Africans can truly make things happen on the continent.’’

He said by 2020, Dangote Group’s revenue would hit $30bn because many of its “bold investments” would have yielded more fruits.

“When people were running away from investing in Africa, we were putting our money, investing across the continent. If we really determine, we can make Africa great; the prospective are there’’, he said.

He said the group had invested $4.8bn across Africa in the last four years.

He advised heads of state to entrepreneurship discourage importation. African encourage and