How Aliko Dangote became the richest person in Africa

110

A

For the tenth time in a row, Aliko Dangote was named the richest man in Africa in 2021, with an estimated net worth of $12.1 billion.1 The business empire he began to build more than three decades ago, Dangote Group, is one of the largest private-sector employers in Nigeria as well as the most valuable conglomerate in West Africa.

At the age of 21, 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. Ultimately, Dangote was able to turn a local commodities trading business into a multibillion-dollar corporation.

Understanding How Aliko Dangote Became the Richest Person in Africa

Dangote’s business interests encompass many industries, including oil and gas, consumer goods, and manufacturing. However, Dangote Cement makes up the majority of the conglomerate’s revenue, of which Dangote owns 85%. According to Forbes magazine, the subsidiary produces 45.6 million metric tons of cement every year and operates in 10 African countries.

Dangote also owns the world’s third-largest sugar refinery. As of March 31, 2021, Dangote Cement Group reported quarterly revenue of 332.7 billion Nigerian nairas, approximately US$808.5 million.

Early Life and Education of the Richest African

Born in 1957, Dangote grew up in an entrepreneurial household in Kano State, Nigeria. He was raised Muslim and lived an upper-class life. Dangote’s grandfather, Sanusi Dantata, was once named one of the wealthiest people living in Kano. He made his fortune selling commodities like oats and rice. Dantata became Dangote’s guardian in 1965 after the death of his father.

Having spent much of his childhood with his grandfather, Dangote quickly became interested in the world of business, once saying, “I can remember when I was in primary school, I would go and buy cartons of sweets [sugar boxes] and I would start selling them just to make money.  was so interested in business, even at that time.”

At age 21, Dangote graduated from Egypt’s Al-Azhar University, considered one of Islam’s most prestigious universities. It was there the budding entrepreneur furthered his education in business.

An Empire Is Born

After graduating from college in 1977, Dangote managed to convince his uncle to lend him money to start a business. The funds from the loan allowed him to import soft commodities at wholesale prices from international suppliers. Two of his main imports were rice from Thailand and sugar from Brazil. He then sold those items in small quantities to consumers in his village at a lucrative markup.

The venture quickly became successful and turned into a cash cow. In an interview with Forbes, Dangote claims that on his best days, he was realizing a daily net profit of $10,000. That allowed him to repay his uncle in only three months.

Cutting Out the Middleman

In 1997, Dangote realized that acting as a middleman was a very costly endeavor, so he built a plant to produce what he had been importing and selling for the previous 20 years: pasta, sugar, salt, and flour.

Around the same time, Dangote was awarded a state-owned cement company. Dangote significantly expanded the operations of the company in 2005 by constructing a multimillion-dollar manufacturing plant. The construction was financed with $319 million of Dangote’s own money in addition to a $479 million loan from the International Finance Corporation, a sister organization of The World Bank.5

Each of his manufacturing divisions has since been separated into publicly traded companies: Dangote Sugar Refinery PLC., National Salt Company of Nigeria PLC., and Dangote Cement PLC.

$12.5 billion

Aliko Dangote’s net worth, as of July 23, 2021.3

Expanding the Empire

Dangote has always reinvested the majority of his profits back into his businesses—one reason the company has grown so much since inception. During an interview with Al Jazeera News, Aliko Dangote explained, ‘‘We [Dangote Group] are not doing like other Africans who keep most of their money in the bank. We do not keep money in the bank. We fully invest whatever we have and we keep on investing (sic).’’

Unlike many wealthy Nigerians who made their fortune in oil, Dangote initially chose to go down a different path, but he has since entered the oil and gas industry. In an effort to put some of his cash reserves to work, Dangote is working on a massive oil refinery in Lagos, which is projected to start operations in late 2021. If successful, it could significantly reduce Nigeria’s reliance on international suppliers for oil and gas and end the import of $7 billion in fuel a year. The $15 billion refinery in Nigeria is the largest industrial project ever in Nigeria and is expected to produce 650,000 barrels of oil per day.

Awards and Charity Work

Aliko Dangote is a leading philanthropist and founded his eponymous private charitable foundation in 1994. The Aliko Dangote Foundation (ADF) is dedicated to adding value to people’s lives across Africa by supporting health, education, and economic empowerment initiatives. Now, the foundation is the largest private foundation in sub-Saharan Africa.

Notably, Dangote’s Foundation began partnering with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2013 in order to eradicate polio and strengthen routine immunizations throughout the country.10 In August 2020, the entire African continent (of which Nigeria was last) celebrated its official certification as free of wild polio.

Aliko Dangote FAQs

How Did Aliko Dangote Get Rich?

Aliko Dangote made his fortune by importing and selling agricultural commodities, and later through oil and gas, consumer goods, and manufacturing. The majority of Dangote’s fortune comes from Dangote Cement, which produces 45.6 million metric tons of cement every year and operates in 10 African countries.

What Does Dangote Produce?

Dangote primarily produces cement, oil, and other commodities such as sugar.

Who Is Aliko Dangote’s Wife?

Aliko Dangote is a bachelor and not currently married.

Who Is the Richest Black Person in the World?

Aliko Dangote is the richest Black person in the world.

How Many Trillionaires Are There in the World?

There are currently no trillionaires in the world, but multiple sources estimate that Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, could become the world’s first trillionaire by 2026.14

The Bottom Line

Aliko Dangote’s journey to fortune is not a rags-to-riches story. He came from a wealthy family that was able to provide financial assistance to start his business. Over the years, Dangote has expanded into new business segments, including telecommunications, real estate, and steel manufacturing. Today his holding company, Dangote Group, is the largest conglomerate in West Africa. His title as “richest man in Africa” seems only to be one he’ll hold for years to come. •Adapted from: (Investopedia)

110 thoughts on “How Aliko Dangote became the richest person in Africa

  1. 612760 175327Exceptional post even so , I was wanting to know in the event you could write a litte much more on this topic? Id be very thankful in the event you could elaborate slightly bit a lot more. Thanks! 574908

  2. I just like the helpful information you supply in your articles.

    I’ll bookmark your weblog and check once more right here regularly.

    I am relatively sure I’ll learn many new stuff proper right here!
    Good luck for the next!

  3. Appreciating the dedication you put into your website and in depth information you offer.
    It’s nice to come across a blog every once in a
    while that isn’t the same unwanted rehashed information. Fantastic read!
    I’ve bookmarked your site and I’m adding your RSS feeds
    to my Google account.

  4. Admiring the time and effort you put into your site and in depth information you offer.
    It’s awesome to come across a blog every once in a while that isn’t the same unwanted rehashed
    material. Wonderful read! I’ve saved your site and I’m including your RSS
    feeds to my Google account.

  5. Attractive component to content. I just stumbled upon your
    website and in accession capital to say that I get actually enjoyed account your
    weblog posts. Any way I’ll be subscribing on your
    augment and even I fulfillment you get admission to consistently rapidly.

  6. Admiring the time and effort you put into your blog and in depth information you offer.
    It’s great to come across a blog every once in a while that isn’t the same
    out of date rehashed material. Wonderful read!
    I’ve saved your site and I’m adding your RSS feeds to my Google account.

  7. Hi! This is kind of off topic but I need some guidance from an established blog.
    Is it difficult to set up your own blog? I’m not very techincal but I can figure things out
    pretty quick. I’m thinking about setting up my own but I’m not sure where to start.

    Do you have any tips or suggestions? Many thanks

  8. Do you mind if I quote a couple of your posts as long
    as I provide credit and sources back to your webpage?
    My blog site is in the exact same area of interest as yours and my users would genuinely benefit from a lot of the information you provide here.
    Please let me know if this alright with you. Thank you!

  9. tablets [url=https://www.walmart.com/ip/How-Buy-Cialis-Online-Legally-Safely-Cheap-Complete-Guide-Without-Prescription-Including-Comparison-Viagra-Levitra-Staxyn-Other-Ed-Drugs-9781981224104/765146143]porn child[/url] carbob porn tvorog

  10. hey there and thank you for your information I’ve definitely picked up anything new from right here. I did however expertise some technical issues using this site, since I experienced to reload the site a lot of times previous to I could get it to load properly. I had been wondering if your web hosting is OK? Not that I am complaining, but sluggish loading instances times will very frequently affect your placement in google and can damage your quality score if advertising and marketing with Adwords. Anyway I’m adding this RSS to my e-mail and can look out for a lot more of your respective fascinating content. Make sure you update this again soon.

  11. Excellent blog here! Also your website quite a bit up fast! What host are you using? Can I am getting your associate link for your host? I want my website loaded up as fast as yours lol

  12. Hi there, I found your web site by means of Google whilst searching for a similar topic, your site got here up, it seems to be good. I have bookmarked it in my google bookmarks.

  13. Hi there this is somewhat of off topic but I was wondering if blogs use WYSIWYG editors or if you have to manually code with HTML. I’m starting a blog soon but have no coding skills so I wanted to get advice from someone with experience. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

  14. I absolutely love your blog and find a lot of your post’s to be precisely what I’m looking for. Do you offer guest writers to write content for you personally? I wouldn’t mind creating a post or elaborating on many of the subjects you write in relation to here. Again, awesome blog!

  15. Hi there are using WordPress for your blog platform? I’m new to the blog world but I’m trying to get started and create my own. Do you need any coding knowledge to make your own blog? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

  16. I am really loving the theme/design of your web site. Do you ever run into any web browser compatibility problems? A handful of my blog visitors have complained about my website not operating correctly in Explorer but looks great in Chrome. Do you have any tips to help fix this issue?

  17. Hey There. I found your blog using msn. This is a very well written article. I will be sure to bookmark it and come back to read more of your useful information. Thanks for the post. I will definitely comeback.

  18. Nice post. I learn something new and challenging on blogs I stumbleupon everyday. It will always be exciting to read content from other writers and practice a little something from their websites.

  19. Having read this I thought it was very informative. I appreciate you taking the time and effort to put this informative article together. I once again find myself spending way too much time both reading and commenting. But so what, it was still worth it!

  20. This design is spectacular! You certainly know how to keep a reader entertained. Between your wit and your videos, I was almost moved to start my own blog (well, almost…HaHa!) Wonderful job. I really enjoyed what you had to say, and more than that, how you presented it. Too cool!

  21. I do agree with all the ideas you have introduced in your post. They are very convincing and will definitely work. Still, the posts are too quick for novices. May just you please prolong them a bit from next time? Thank you for the post.

  22. An impressive share! I have just forwarded this onto a colleague who had been doing a little research on this. And he in fact bought me breakfast because I discovered it for him… lol. So let me reword this…. Thank YOU for the meal!! But yeah, thanx for spending the time to discuss this topic here on your site.

  23. Hi there, i read your blog occasionally and i own a similar one and i was just wondering if you get a lot of spam comments? If so how do you reduce it, any plugin or anything you can suggest? I get so much lately it’s driving me insane so any help is very much appreciated.

  24. Nice post. I used to be checking continuously this blog and I am inspired! Very useful information specially the ultimate phase 🙂 I deal with such info a lot. I used to be seeking this particular info for a long timelong time. Thank you and good luck.

  25. Howdy I am so excited I found your weblog, I really found you by error, while I was browsing on Askjeeve for something else, Regardless I am here now and would just like to say thanks a lot for a incredible post and a all round interesting blog (I also love the theme/design), I dont have time to read through it all at the minute but I have saved it and also added in your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read much more, Please do keep up the superb jo.

  26. Good day! This post couldn’t be written any better! Reading this post reminds me of my old room mate! He always kept talking about this. I will forward this page to him. Pretty sure he will have a good read. Thank you for sharing!

  27. Howdy would you mind stating which blog platform you’re working with? I’m planning to start my own blog in the near future but I’m having a tough time making a decision between BlogEngine/Wordpress/B2evolution and Drupal. The reason I ask is because your design seems different then most blogs and I’m looking for something completely unique. P.S Apologies for getting off-topic but I had to ask!

  28. Have you ever thought about publishing an e-book or guest authoring on other sites? I have a blog based upon on the same subjects you discuss and would really like to have you share some stories/information. I know my subscribers would enjoy your work. If you are even remotely interested, feel free to send me an e-mail.

  29. I’m really enjoying the design and layout of your blog. It’s a very easy on the eyes which makes it much more enjoyable for me to come here and visit more often. Did you hire out a designer to create your theme? Excellent work!

  30. Hello! Someone in my Myspace group shared this site with us so I came to look it over. I’m definitely enjoying the information. I’m book-marking and will be tweeting this to my followers! Terrific blog and amazing style and design.

  31. Aw, this was a really nice post. Finding the time and actual effort to produce a great article but what can I say I put things off a lot and never seem to get anything done.

  32. Wonderful website you have here but I was curious if you knew of any community forums that cover the same topics talked about in this article? I’d really love to be a part of online community where I can get comments from other knowledgeable individuals that share the same interest. If you have any recommendations, please let me know. Thank you!

  33. Appreciating the time and energy you put into your website and in depth information you present. It’s good to come across a blog every once in a while that isn’t the same outdated rehashed material. Wonderful read! I’ve saved your site and I’m including your RSS feeds to my Google account.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *