SOME OF THOSE WHO DEFINED THE LAST DECADE IN BUSINESS
A liko Dangote: A Man of Unparalleled Determination to Conquer
Aliko Dangote is the Group CEO of Dangote Group which he founded in 1978 when he took the plunge into business. He has since nurtured the business into a diversified and fully integrated conglomerate, with an annual group turnover in excess of $4.1 billion. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, the 62-year-old Nigerian businessman and Africa’s most prominent industrialist ended the decade with a net worth of almost $15 billion, making him the 96th wealthiest man in the world. Currently Africa’s richest man, he was reported to have been$4.3 billion richer in 2019. His conglomerate, Dangote Industries, includes the biggest cement company on the continent, the Nigerian Stock Exchange-listed Dangote Cement Plc. That’s one of four publicly-traded companies under the Dangote umbrella that account for more than a fifth of the value of the NSE.
It is expected that 2020 would likely be a momentous one for the billionaire, who is close to completing one of the world’s largest oil refineries in Nigeria. The plant, according to Bloomberg, has the capacity to meet more than Nigeria’s entire fuel consumption and could transform an economy that currently imports all its refined product needs. The Dangote refinery, solely financed by Dangote Group has the capacity to refine 650,000 barrels of crude oil per day. Currently, under construction, the refinery which has a total cost of $13 billion, is estimated to meet the country’s entire domestic fuel demand as well as export refined products.
Dangote is also constructing a fertilizer factory on the same site. He is also investing heavily in agriculture, automobiles, and philanthropy. He set up the largest Foundation in Africa with an endowment of $1.25 billion. Locally focused, but globally-minded, the Dangote Foundation is at the forefront of improving the nutrition, health, and education of Nigerians. He is passionate about lifting the most vulnerable people out of poverty through economic empowerment.
Femi Otedola: Turned Around loss making Forte to profit and exited
Femi Otedola is a dyed-in-wool and visionary entrepreneur whose energy is directed at transforming enterprises and putting them on the path of sustainable growth. A strong leader with a track record of achievements in business and always aiming to make things better and adding value in areas where pioneers have trodden.
He was thrust into the public’s consciousness with his foray into the downstream sector of the oil industry when he started Zenon Petroleum and Gas Limited. Zenon disrupted and redefined the standards in the sector and to ensure that his very high standards are met, he also invested in storage, shipping, insurance brokerage, and port agency and petroleum retail outlets building a formidable, value-driven presence along the downstream value chain.
In his quest to grow his foothold in the sector, he initiated the purchase of majority shareholding in the then African Petroleum Plc in May 2007 and joined the board as chairman on May 25, 2007.
His vision transformed African Petroleum Plc into Forte Oil Plc. The company grew in leaps and bounds to become a model of the possibilities inherent in Nigeria, winning numerous accolades in recognition of the successful business turnaround, diversified portfolio, prompt financial reporting, strong corporate governance and investment of choice within the oil industry and the Nigerian Stock Exchange. Highlights of the Forte transformation include the resumption of payments of dividends to shareholders and the company’s foray into power generation through the purchase of the then 414 MW Geregu Power plant in Ajaokuta, Kogi State. He divested from the company when he accepted the offer of the Ignite Consortium led by Prudent Energy Services Limited for his entire shareholding in December 2018 and handed over control upon completion of the transaction in June 2019.
The divestment from Forte Oil Plc and his subsequent and resumed focus on power generation through the acquisition of FO Plc shares in Geregu Power Plc will once again put him into the limelight as a turnaround businessman. This is in continuation of his long-term interest in the power sector dating back to 2007, when he made the very strategic decision to participate in the privatization programme of the Nigerian government and his doggedness culminated in the acquisition of a majority stake in the 414MW Geregu Power Plant in August 2013.
Suffice to mention that Otedola led a team that successfully acquired the plant, carried out a major overhaul in the sum of $90 million and ramped up capacity to 435MW. Geregu Power Plc today is contributing approximately 10% of the generating capacity available to the national grid. Clearly, Otedola is on the path of raising the standards for performance in the Nigerian power sector.
A philanthropist with deep involvement in the educational cause at all levels via the Sir Michael Otedola Scholarship Awards Foundation, he has continued to demonstrate his passion for his Epe community in particular and Nigeria in general, committing huge financial resources to the sponsorship of promising but financially disadvantaged students.
The new Augustine University in Epe is also a beneficiary of his huge commitment to education. His philanthropy took an international dimension when he gave N5 billion (approximately $13.88 million) to Save the Children towards the North-East intervention to alleviate the difficulties experienced by the people in the area as a result of the prolonged conflict; a cause dear to his daughter and internationally renowned DJ Cuppy’s Foundation.
He has distinguished himself in business, leadership, and philanthropy.
Mike Adenuga: Connecting the Continent
From making his first million at 26 by selling lace and distributing soft drinks, to receiving a drilling license and striking oil in the shallow waters of Southwestern Ondo State at 36, Otunba Mike Adenuga has progressed in leaps and bounds, with his bold business moves shooting him to the top echelon of Africa’s businessmen.
During the last decade, Adenuga rose to become the second-richest person in Africa with his worth reaching an estimated $9.2 billion.
Adenuga owns Globacom, Nigeria’s second-largest telecom operator, which has a presence in Ghana and Benin and is rapidly expanding to other West
African countries.
While he is heavily involved in banking and oil exploration - his oil exploration outfit, Conoil, operates six oil blocks in the Niger Delta – Adenuga made the most impact on Nigerian (and African) lives in the last decade through Globacom.
A few years ago, Globacom became the first single telecommunication company in the world to own its own submarine cable. The high capacity Glo 1 optic fibre cable directly connects West Africa to the UK and the rest of the world.
The 9,800 km long cable provides excess bandwidth to all the cities connected to the cable and translates to much faster and more robust connectivity for voice, data and video.
The cable will connect 14 West African countries to the rest of the world, thereby boosting economic activities in the region.
But Adenuga isn’t sitting back to take plaudits. Rather like a bull, he is charging down all obstacles and rewriting the rules. Globacom has taken further steps by constructing another multi-billion naira optic fibre submarine cable called Glo 2.
Glo 2 would be built along the Nigerian coast from Alpha Beach in Lagos, where Glo 1 landing station is located, to the Southern part of the country. The facility will enable ultra high capacity connection to Nigeria’s South-South Region and provide capacity to offshore oil platforms and communities. Glo 2 will be the first submarine cable in Nigeria to land outside Lagos and will provide high speed internet connectivity as well as digitalize oil platforms to improve productivity.
It is also designed for further expansion southwards to Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Angola and other countries in the southern part of Africa.
Abdulsamad Rabiu: Chasing Dangote
Abdulsamad Rabiu is the founder and chief executive officer of BUA Group, a Nigerian conglomerate, which began operations in 1988 as a private limited liability company specializing in the importation and marketing of iron and steel, agricultural and industrial chemicals. Since then, BUA has rapidly developed into a fully-fledged, diversified business with a stake in a wide range of business sectors, including sugar, cement, iron and steel, real estate and logistics.
BUA Sugar Refinery Limited refines imported and locally sourced raw sugar. Essentially, the refinery was conceived as an ultra-modern, automated plant with state of the art equipment. It has an installed capacity of 2,000 MT of sugar a day. The refinery which is 100 percent Nigerian-owned and 100 percent equity-financed has its technology from Brazil, acclaimed to be the best technology in sugar production and refinery.
Another company in the conglomerate, BUA Oil Mills Limited Lagos, which has been in existence for almost 20 years, has two refinery plants and matching fractionation plants with a combined installed capacity of 700TPD.
The older refinery was supplied by Desmet of Belgium and has an installed capacity of 200TPD, while the new refinery, which was commissioned by BUA Oil Mills, was supplied by Alfa Laval with an installed capacity of 500TPD.
BUA Group plays strong in cement manufacturing with three major subsidiaries and plants in Northern and Southern Nigeria. It also has a 2-million metric tonnes per annum floating terminal serving niche markets. Rabiu-owned BUA’s interest in cement includes a $900 million plant in Okpella, Edo State as well as majority shareholding in Cement Company of Northern Nigeria (CCNN), Sokoto.
The group also holds a stake in Damnaz Cement Company Ltd which is the majority shareholder in CCNN. The group’s plants have the capacity to provide various grades of cement as required in the local Nigeria markets and meet the highest standard of cement manufacturing. Rabiu, who returned to the billionaires’ club with a net worth of $1.6 billion in 2019, has his group’s influence affecting the strata of the society.
Benedict Peters: Strikes Gold with Oil
As the founding GMD/Vice-Chair of 20-year-old Aiteo Group, the integrated, globalfocused Nigerian energy conglomerate, Mr. Benedict Peters’ entrepreneurial savvy has directly impacted the entity’s strategic development, policy formulation, and execution.
This has translated into meaningful indigenous participation in a sector dominated by international oil companies (IOCs) and considerably deepened Nigeria’s capacity to manage its oil assets and create critical local content.
Following the asset divestment by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), Aiteo acquired Oil Mining Lease 29 (OML 29) and the industry’s 97-kilometre, Nembe Creek Trunk Line (NCTL) in a deal worth $2.7 billion following a highly competitive bidding process. At the acquisition period, the assets were reportedly worth 5 percent of the Royal Dutch Shell global portfolio. This strategic national asset occupies a top spot in Nigeria’s energy calculus.
The acquisition made it Aiteo’s largest asset in Africa from a local content point of view. Aiteo quickly augmented production on the asset from below 25,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 90,000 in the space of 18 months, thereby installing it as Nigeria’s largest oil producing company.
Unassuming, press-shy Peters strongly believes that it is long past time that the oil sector is made to work for Nigeria and that the wealth created by oil and gas should lead to the sustainable development of the country’s economy.
With his vast, invaluable industry knowledge, Peters is clearly a key force to reckon with as a transformative agenda for the strategic oil industry in the new decade is unfolded. In 2008, the very successful Sigmund Communecci metamorphosed into the company now referred to as Aiteo.
Since its formation, Aiteo has experienced exponential growth in the Nigerian integrated energy sector, with much of the credit rightly assigned to the innovative leadership of Benedict Peters and his knack for identifying and recruiting exceptional talents.
As a measure of his growing business clout, an international recognition the US Chamber of Commerce announced recently that Peters will serve on the