[size=14pt]Africa’s richest (from Nigeria) land in Nairobi.[/size]



Some of Africa’s and world’s rich- est Nigerian tycoons are in town. They arrived in style, riding in executive private jets in the largest such galaxy of the super rich from one country to be seen in the capital city, Nairobi. They accompanied Nigerian President Good Luck Jonathan when he landed in Kenya on Thursday this week for his maiden official visit.

On tow was a constellation of Nigeria’s richest billionaires among them Africa’s richest man, Nigeria’s cement tycoon, Aliko Dangote. The over ten men and women who make Nigeria’s list of wealthiest tycoons are looking to cut multi-billion deals with both government and local businessmen.

According to foreign policy experts this move will ostensibly improve Nigeria’s standing in Kenya on the backdrop of a series of incidents which have lately given a bad reputation to citizens of the western African economic powerhouse among locals. On Friday Nigerian aides intimated to The People that President Jonathan’s entourage of top businessmen and government officials was easily the largest single delegation to accompany a Nigerian head of state in any African state in the West African nation’s independent history.

“The President was accompanied by the finest businessmen and women we have in Nigeria, perhaps in Africa,” a Presidential aide who sought anonymity told The People at the Intercontinental Hotel where a bilateral meeting was held yesterday. The entourage included wealthy business magnates, with continental investments in the lucrative Nigerian oil sector as well as other sectors such as manufacturing, banking, agriculture and processing.

The galaxy of the super rich included Aliko Dangote, who this year became the first African entrepreneur to lay claim to a US$20 billion fortune as the stock value of his largest holding Dangote Cement, increased this year making him the richest man in Africa and among the top 25 richest people in the world. Put into context, Dangote is richer than Russia’s richest man, Alisher Usmanov, richer than India’s Lakshmi Mittal and running neck and neck with India’s Mukesh Ambani.

He is catching up with such Americans as Google’s billionaire founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, according to Forbes magazine. Others are Dr Ernest Nnaemeka Azudialu-Obiejesi, Nigeria’s biggest oil baron and founder and Group Managing Director of Nestoil PLC, Nigeria’s foremost indigenous oil and gas company. He is on the board of several Nigerian A-listed companies including a Nestoil-led consortium which has acquired a 45 per cent stake in the OML 42 from Shell, Total and ENI, containing developed oil fields and gas reserves.

He was recently awarded All Africa Business Leaders Award (AABLA) by Forbes CNBC and ABN for West African Entrepreneur of the Year. Among the billionaires is Felix Idiga, an astute oil baron. Others are Jim Ovia, founder of leading Nigerian Bank, Zenith Bank Group. The bank is West Africa’s second largest financial services provider by market capitalisation and asset base.

He was required to step down as chief executive in 2009 after a 20-year stint following a Nigerian Central Bank directive that limits the tenure of bank chiefs to 10 years. He still remains the largest individual shareholder; his stake is worth about $300 million. An equally large chunk of his wealth comes from a portfolio of prime real estate in Victoria Island and Ikoyi, some of Nigeria’s priciest neighbourhoods.

Ovia devotes the majority of his time to managing Visafone, a telecom outfit he founded in 2007. He also owns Quantum, a private equity fund focused on Africa. The group of tycoons first created a spectacle at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport when they landed on Thursday evening in ex- pensive private jets. They would later be booked in top Nairobi hotels.

Dangote stirred a bilateral meeting comprised of business leaders from both countries and headed by both President Uhuru and Jonathan when he announced he would invest a staggering Sh 34 billion (400 million US dollars) in the country to set up a cement plant. Speaking of behalf of the Nigerian business delegation, Dangote said Nigerian businessmen would explore more opportunities in various sectors in Kenya.

At the meeting, President Uhuru announced drastic measures in support of trade and strengthened bilateral ties between the two countries. The President ordered that Nigerian investors be issued with five to ten year visas to enable them easily conduct business in Kenya. “This will facilitate our people to travel with ease and without restrictions,” said Uhuru.

Together with President Jona- than and Deputy President William Ruto, President Uhuru called for more intra-African trade. “We have the capacity, ability and know-how to do it,” Uhuru said. Following the meeting, Kenyan businessmen are set to join President Uhuru Kenyatta early next year for a state visit in Nigerian which will see the countries consolidate trade and bilateral relations. - By BRIAN NGUGI

[size=14pt]Africa: Meet Dangote, Africa's Richest Man.[/size]

7 September 2013 , By Olive Burrows, Source: Capital FM

Nairobi

Aliko Dangote is a man of his word. He lives in a world where 10 minutes is 10 minutes and a promise is a debt.

It's no wonder then that Forbes magazine has ranked him as the richest man in Africa, not for one but for three years running, at an estimated Sh1.7 trillion.

But despite his being the first African to amass a USD20 billion fortune, far be it for him to value your time any less than he values his:

"I didn't want to keep you waiting," he told Capital FM News exactly 10 minutes after he'd said, "I'll be with you in 10 minutes."

He even put aside his visa application process in order to share with Capital FM News aficionados the secrets to his success and his plans to share his good fortune with Kenya.

But actions are louder than words and Dangote perhaps unwittingly shared his first words of wisdom when he challenged President Uhuru Kenyatta to issue five to 10 year visas to investors and elicited immediate action.

"I'm directing our Cabinet Secretary for the interior to make it possible for our investors to get five and 10 year visas," President Kenyatta directed.

Less than an hour later, Dangote was receiving a five year visa to Kenya, "I could have gotten the 10 year visa but I'd probably never stay that long with a passport anyway."

The practical man has amassed his fortune through various business interests across the continent, mostly dealing in cement, and he plans to extend those interests to Kenya.

"I've been accused of going to Tanzania, Zambia, Southern Sudan, Ethiopia but not Kenya but now that Kenya is home, we're going to invest USD400 million in the Kitui region for cement."

As a major shareholder of the Nigerian bank Zenith, the mogul also plans to cut himself a slice of the Kenyan banking pie by setting up office in the country.

"I don't want to call names but if you call XY from America or from somewhere, they will not understand what you're talking about and they'll end up asking you for so many things including your grandmother's certificate of birth," he teased.

His sense of humour aside, Dangote is a man who firmly believes that working together, Africans have every potential to lift their brother from the mire of poverty and turn around the fortunes of what has disreputably been known as the Dark Continent.

"The majority of the West was developed by their own entrepreneurs. They didn't wait for the Chinese or for Koreans to come and develop their own economy so we have to do it."

But how did the man who started out selling confectionary, albeit from a well-to-do family, end up as the 25th richest person in the world.

"It's just persistency, hard work and determination but you know with all these things you need to have a vision and also strategy to achieve the vision. Boldness in taking a calculated risk in areas where people hardly go and invest," he shared.

As a man who always has his eyes peeled for opportunity, Dangote has already set his sights on his next, "well thought out," business opportunity.

"I'm sure you must have read in the news that two days ago we will be building a petrochemical and fertiliser refinery worth USD9 billion which we plan on finishing in 2016 which is a world record," he said.

The refinery backs Dangote's belief that Africa needs to begin processing its raw material in order to reap its full benefits and Nigeria, which imports fuel even given its oil deposits, is set to benefit immensely from the investment.

Kenya as well given the 46 oil blocks recently discovered in the country, "I think it is something that will teach and also train your people here to understand how to do bidding for blocks, how to do quite a lot because we'll be more open to tell you what you should do and what you shouldn't do because we've gone through the cycle and being our fellow brothers and sisters we feel very much obliged."

And now that the self-confessed record breaker considers Kenya family, it is definitely not the last time we'll be hearing from the magnate, "It's like we had a wedding reception this afternoon. So this is a relationship that we have and I definitely think this is a relationship that will outlive both of us."

[size=14pt]Nigerian investors to arrive in 7 private jets.[/size]

Thursday, September 5, 2013 - 00:00 -- BY CONSTANT MUNDA

A high-powered delegation of Nigerian investors is expected to fly in today to join the three-day state visit of President Goodluck Jonathan. Around 50 wealthy investors will arrive in a fleet of seven private jets, according to a close source.

They include Aliko Dangote of Dangote Group, Africa’s richest businessman, ranked among the top 25 in the world, whose worth is over $20 billion (over Sh1.75 trillion).

The two economic powerhouses of West and East Africa are expected to sign major trade deals in their first meeting of such magnitude. The Nigerian President’s plane will touch down at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport at 4pm and he will be welcomed by President Uhuru Kenyatta.

There will be a formal state reception including a guard of honour at State House, Nairobi. The two heads of state will hold meetings with public and private sector actors to foster bilateral and trade ties.

The chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Kiprono Kittony, said the visit will go a long way to eliminate negative stereotyping between the two nations which has damaged trade.

Exports to Nigeria fell to Sh2.9 billion last year from a peak of Sh3.2 billion in 2008, according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. Similarly imports declined to a mere Sh48.6 million from Sh169.8 million over the same period.

Last year the Kenya Association of Manufacturers visited Nigeria to seek new opportunities in West Africa. On July 16 the Nigerian and Kenyan foreign ministers signed three bilateral agreements in Abuja in the presence of Uhuru and Goodluck.

The agreements included a Joint Commission for Cooperation plan, a protocol on trade consultations, and an MoU on mutual cooperation between the Foreign Service Institute of Kenya and the Foreign Service Academy of Nigeria.

At the time a Kenyan plane had been seized for flouting Nigeria’s aviation rules when it landed with Anthony Chinedu who had been deported on suspicion of drug trafficking.

“As the business community, we highly commend President Kenyatta for reaching out to African countries that offer big opportunities for our local products,” said Kittony yesterday.

The Nigerian investors come from the manufacturing, petrochemicals, agribusiness, food, commodities and telecommunications industries. They include Tony Elumelu, Sani Dangote and Whitey Basson.

The Kenyan Chamber is expected to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with its Nigerian counterpart tomorrow morning before an agribusiness luncheon hosted by the Central Bank and coordinated by the Chamber at a Nairobi hotel.

The luncheon will be attended by both heads of state. Nigeria has more developed banking, oil and gas industries while Kenya has a successful domestic service sector including aviation, tourism and hospitality industries.

“Both countries are also primary producers in different sectors and that opens a whole window of opportunities to do business especially in areas of industrial development,” Kittony said.

“For example, Nigeria imports a lot of butter from far countries such as New Zealand and Australia when we sometimes have a surplus here.” Dangote has just finalised a $3.3billion loan deal for construction of the biggest oil refinery and fertiliser factory in Africa with Standard Chartered Bank and Nigeria’s Guaranty Trust Bank. The two plants will cost a total of $9 billion and will create 9,500 direct and 25,000 indirect jobs.

President Jonathan’s
entourage of top businessmen and
government officials was easily the largest
single delegation to accompany a Nigerian
head of state in any African state in the
West African nation’s independent history.

Tolexander: The list isn't complete. Where are the other rich men?
Are they not mentioned or the refused to attend?

It is good to be squeezing the less powerfull countries in africa like south africa is doing to us.

Tolexander: The list isn't complete. Where are the other rich men?
Are they not mentioned or the refused to attend?

It is good to be squeezing the less powerfull countries in africa like south africa is doing to us.

omonnakoda: Dangote is on course to be the richest man in the world. Investing in Africa is probably most rewarding and considered "risky" by Westerners

SLIDE waxie: what is this one sayin again na?

Afam4eva: The first and only comment from that first source is disgusting. Why does the world think Nigerians are scammers. Here are our business men trying to put food on the table of a lot of Kenyans and they have the audacity to term us criminals.

yuzedo: naptu2 bro am so angry and dissappointe wit u. wear is my name in dis ur fake aticle?! bro is it easy to be d pressident of banana iceland boys bilonnare club of nigerian?! am pat of dis bois going to kenya now? u have hot my fillings bro am sad.

nerodenero: I think these are some of the cabals Jonathan refused to mention their names last year.Why make so much money when your investments are largely abroad with Nigerians not feeling the impact.?Kudos to Dangote for his numerous investment.

Tolexander: The list isn't complete. Where are the other rich men?
Are they not mentioned or the refused to attend?

It is good to be squeezing the less powerfull countries in africa like south africa is doing to us.