From a N500, 000 loan in 1977 at age 21, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, 53, now has a net worth of $11.8billion and was last Thursday adjudged Africa’s richest person by Forbes magazine. This makes him the 51st richest person on earth. His fortunes surged by 557 per cent, from the $2.1 billion he recorded last year. Dangote, a father of three, was worth $3.3 billion in 2008 to become richest black African to appear on Forbes’ list, beating TV mogul Oprah Winfrey.
The business empire of the biggest cement maker in Africa is now sweeping across African countries. The $1.2billion Obajana Cement Company in Kogi State, which ranks as the West Africa’s biggest cement factory now operates two lines of production with 5million metric tonnes installed capacity. In 2002, the Dangote Industries Limited (DIL) acquired the Savannah Sugar Company in Numan, Adamawa State. Today it is the only sugar producing factory in Nigeria.
The Dangote Industries Limited is also the core investor in the Benue Cement Company (BCC) and plans a new N102billion cement factory at Ibeshe, Ogun State which will take off this July. The Dangote Group of Companies has so far invested N42billion into the Benue Cement Company since acquiring a majority stake in the company in 2004.
Additional N25 billion has being invested into the Savannah Sugar Company. The Savannah Sugar Company was established by the Federal Government of Nigeria in 1971 and eventually began operation in 1980. Dangote companies dominate the sugar market in the country and Dangote Sugar Refinery is the main supplier (70% of the market) to the country’s soft drinks companies, breweries and confectioners. It is the largest refinery in Africa and the third largest in the world producing 800,000 tonnes of sugar annually.
Aliko, as some of his friends call him, is a consummate entrepreneur. He has conquered different business sectors on the African business landscape, foraying into importation and manufacturing. He is also a darling of the government, as just last week, the Federal Government through the Bank of Industry (BOI) gave him a loan of N10billion for job creation, where he promised to generate a million jobs in the next few years.
His companies currently control about a quarter of the Nigerian Stock Exchange. Last October, Dangote Cement Plc was formally admitted into the list-quoted companies, with the 15.4 billion ordinary shares worth about N2.1trillion.
On the continent, Dangote has plants under construction in Senegal, Zambia, Tanzania, Congo and Ethiopa and is building cement terminals in Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast and Liberia, among other places.
Describing the source of Dangote’s wealth, Forbes said: “The catalyst was listing Dangote Cement, which integrated his investments across Africa with his previously public Benue Cement. It now accounts for a quarter of the Nigeria Stock Exchange’s total market cap.
Dangote recently bought himself a $45 million Bombardier aircraft for his birthday and has been shuttling back and forth to London for months, in anticipation of a public offering there later this year. He began his career as a commodities trader and built his Dangote Group into a conglomerate with interests in sugar, flour milling, salt processing, cement manufacturing, textiles, real estate, and oil and gas.
Commenting on the Forbes listing, Malam Nasir el-Rufai, Former Minister of Federal Capital Territory, described Dangote as a rare breed and the pride of Africa. “When the producer of the BBC documentary described Dangote as the wealthiest black man in the world, several people challenged him. Well, Forbes just released their wealth list today and you guessed it, Dangote is not the only the richest black man but he is also richer than Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook.”
In the same vein, Godwin Obaseki, Vice Chairman of Afriinvest said: “The significant jump from 2010-2011 which is the largest jump in Forbes ranking indicate the huge potential for growth which Nigeria hold for highly disciplined business man like Aliko Dangote. I will not be surprised if he is ranked as one of the top 20 richest men in the world in the next three years.”
The Managing Director and Chief Executive of Financial Derivates, Bismark Rewane said: “This to me is just the beginning for a very intelligent entrepreneur. This ranking is a plus for Nigeria. It is good news for Africa, reflecting limitless investment opportunities on the continent.”
Dangote was born in Kano on April 10, 1957 into a wealthy family. His mother Mariya Dantata was the grand-daughter of businessman Alhassan Dantata, and his father Mohammed Dangote was Dantata’s business associate. He attended the Al Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt before working for his uncle Sanusi Dantata who eventually gave him a business loan at the age of 21.
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