₦airaland Forum

Solstar:
I love the way you ended it. It is not a spiritual attack, it is a religious attack.

Nigerians spend all their time fasting and praying and forget to get creative, then they run around to find fast money in order to buy imported food, cream, phone and wrist-watches so they dont have to waste time being creative when they should be worshipping God. Now churches run 5 services on Sundays, and a midweek service on wednesdays, not forgetting tarry nights and vigils.

The mohammedans are not left out, they pray a fuccking 5 times a day, and are constantly checking their time to make sure they dont miss a date with Allahu, what remains of their time is spent separating quarrels between their 4 wives, the rest is spent reminding the kids of the need to go to the Alfas and Imams for tutelages.

So, what time do we have to plant tomatoes or engineer apples that can grow on our climate.

We are not poor because we are religious, we are poor as a country because we have found an excuse in God.

Yet money does not grow on trees. Dangote should have known better. He has been making serious business mistakes of late, one of which is building $18B Refinery when electric cars and solar panels are the future. I really question the true source of his wealth. How are his projects financed ? From which sources ? He pays back loans at the speed of light, well, almost. Just to create impression of 'source' ? It could be these politicians just financing him till his retirement and eventual demise. It could just be a ponzi that takes money from early mules and paying the new politicians. I envy the man, I truly do, but if I have access to such money, then I should be able to buy up Nigeria and put everyone on a universal basic income from what I can do with that money.

As it is with the tomato factories, so will it be with the refineries in the next 20 yrs. This is the new world order.

Dangote may have been making mistakes of late, but the refinery he is building is not one of such mistakes. Think of it how much do we spend as a country importing PMS alone? It runs to billions of dollars yearly to be specific $28 billion. Yes that much (https://www.google.com.ng/amp/s/www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2017/06/20/kachikwu-nigeria-spends-28bn-annually-to-import-petrol/amp/)

50% of the price of PMS is tied to crude then running cost, dangote should be raking in nothing less than $15 billion profit yearly and if he runs for 10 years only you can do the maths of his wealth.

if I remember correctly dangote said the refinery will cost $9 billion, dangote is financing about $3 billion, Africa development Bank is bringing 2 billion, the indians and Chinese are also involved.

Secondly it will take more than 10 years for electric cars to gain footing in Africa, I mean we're are the infrastructure? We don't have electricity to power our homes is it cars we will be powering?

Before we castigate dangote for poor business choice it will be nice to remember that running a business is not a walk in the park and mistakes are bound to happen some one can recover from some we can't.

Solstar:
I really have limited time to continue on these back and forth. But let me state that investing $14b to $18b in a refinery that is not near the wells in a country that has double digits inflation, double digits interest rate and an approval for Modular Refineries is not the best idea. How will he deliver the feed ? Piping ? (capital intensive, exposure to vandalism, expense on pipeline survellance), Trucking (bad idea), Rail transport (capital intensive).

Modular refiners site their plants at the epicenters of the oil and Independent marketers drive in, load products and move to destination, this is a better business module.

I dont know about you guys but there are better things to invest $14b to $18b into and get better RoIs. In fact, I think he is targeting other African countries with the investment, cos it is easier to ship it abroad.

Wonderful!... You just sat down comfortably and washed off all Dangote's intelligence into a gutter. You really do think Dangote is so dumb to have sited the refinery where he did right?... You really think he didnt have all these elementary considerations thoroughly deliberated upon with experts before concluding on the location of the refiner?

And by the way, the refinery itself cost less than $10 billion; the rest of the funds covers a massive urea/fertiliser plant, a petrochemical plant and a 42" subsea gas pipeline from bonny to Lagos and other locations. You really do think Dangote is so dumb not to have thoroughly consulted and understood the prospects of these ventures before proceeding?... If the subsea gas pipeline alone is built, it effectively replaces the Escravos - Lagos pipeline and that piece of equipment alone is capable of recouping the entire invested funds in a decade.

fluentinfor:
I am not going to quote anyone so it does not look like a direct attack.

Readers, everyone writing here does not have access to the kind of information Aliko Dangote has. I am just laughing that solar panels and electric cars are the future of the world. Well, I may agree. The issue is: when is the future? And when will this present become obsolete? Start thinking. Do you have such info? If this present is becoming obsolete, yet, I know there are still billions dollars in it, wisdom is going say, do it. Why? The present is the bird in hand, while the future are the millions in the jungle. Have you heard the saying: "a bird in hand, worths more than millions in the jungle?

Marketing/branding is good. Readers, all those professors are marketers. If you had read how the US invested billions of dollars in solar energy researches from algea to make bio diesel in those years, you would have thought that diesel from crude is going extinct by now.

Do not get me wrong. Buhari is not too stupid for still searching for oil. Well, they also have access to information we do not. We just keep wondering, why is Dangote the richest? So, the man shouting panels and electric bla bla bla thinks a stupid man can occupy his seat? He is the present 46th most powerful man in the world ahead of Joe Biden, the vice president of the US.

Readers, I am not going to argue with anyone. Maybe you need to read about late apple CEO - Job. He created apple but lost his company. Maybe he was stupid when he lost it. Lol. And maybe he was more and more stupid when he returned to take over apple.

Stop writing on subjects you have no knowledge on thereby showing your stupidity, please.

Information is power. So, let use assume Dangote is stupid. All the many people working with him are also stupid? The one who gave him licence to build oil refinery is stupid too? Ok. BABA ijebu is stupid too to have built huge oil storage system in Ogun State? It was opened by the vice president recently.

When one is stupid, he is stupid. And a stupid fellow cannot understand the ways of the rich man. And so, a stupid man can never get to where a rich man is. Yet, the stupid man will always argue blindly why he thinks the rich man is stupid. Yet, the rich man can feed all his family. Is the stupid man not really "stupidly stupid"?

You do not have access to the kind of money Aliko has. You have no information like he has, yet you are bragging you will do "far more better" than him. A dey laugh. Without money, your idea will die. Premature death.... red card.

You don hear the saying: "Cash is King". You no get money, you dey fumble say you get idea. A dey laugh. You are stupid.

I want to stay where wisdom resides. I want to be a friend of wisdom. If you like go and create solar hyper digital whatever, i will invest only where rich men invest. Or you think it is a professor I will take his opinion? You are joking.

Dangote has his data. He is going to make billions of dollars from what he is doing. His refinery will make him far more richer. Nothing you dey write now will stop him from finishing that refinery.

They said he talked some things about Arsenal. Chai! See stupidity oooooo! When a king speaks, the world keep silent. So, you all think he does not know what he is doing? Whoever thought a Russian can own a british club? But Abrahamovich knows his thing. See, no dey talk when wisdom dey talk. Dangote has said it, at the right time, he will make his move. At the time he spoke, all he did was to show intetest. My view is that he knows that at a point, they may need more cash. Someone among the owners may want to sell out. Dangote was just saying: I am available. He does not want to run after the club. But he has positioned himself for any offer by opening his mouth to say I will buy Arsenal at the right time. Kings do not beg. They command.

And do you think Dangote will stop building more businesses after that refinery? Lol. Instead of you to find ways of hooking to money movers like Dangote and try to convince and make money come your way to build the future you are dreaming, you are criticising a billionaire.

Wisdom tells me not to criticise a billionaire who has been making money for over 2 decades. They said he is enjoying monopoly. Lol. But they do not realise he has been around, and about 5 presidents have come and gone. So, he has been enjoying monopoly from all of them only? Even he does, are there no other people who are lobbying like him? Don't you really think something is special about him?

The Dantatas helped him, but today, he is bigger than them. So, we think Dangote has time to think solar panel this, digital that, when he is having real figures on his desk. Some people are too funny.

Let me borrow you Biblical wisdom. While Abraham ran away because of farmine, his son Isaac stayed in the land. And he made his wealth during farmine. Why? He has his information to certain things. His figures are different from what the so called experts were projecting. Panels ooo, solar ooooo, LED ooooo, "electonicology bombasticology, future-cology" oooooo, all na wash. Listen! Learn from a wealthy man how to make money.

Dangote na baba. He knows how to play his game with the presidents. If you call it monoply, I call it smartness or favor. Lol. So, others have not tried to monopolised too? Why is it that Dangote is the most favored? OBJ, Yaradua, GEJ favored him. Even Buhari is doing same.

Y'all better sit down and learn wisdom.

help me tell them o

gabicon:
Dangote may have been making mistakes of late, but the refinery he is building is not one of such mistakes. Think of it how much do we spend as a country importing PMS alone? It runs to billions of dollars yearly to be specific $28 billion. Yes that much (https://www.google.com.ng/amp/s/www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2017/06/20/kachikwu-nigeria-spends-28bn-annually-to-import-petrol/amp/)

50% of the price of PMS is tied to crude then running cost, dangote should be raking in nothing less than $15 billion profit yearly and if he runs for 10 years only you can do the maths of his wealth.

if I remember correctly dangote said the refinery will cost $9 billion, dangote is financing about $3 billion, Africa development Bank is bringing 2 billion, the indians and Chinese are also involved.

Secondly it will take more than 10 years for electric cars to gain footing in Africa, I mean we're are the infrastructure? We don't have electricity to power our homes is it cars we will be powering?

Before we castigate dangote for poor business choice it will be nice to remember that running a business is not a walk in the park and mistakes are bound to happen some one can recover from some we can't.

Point of correction on the bolded bit, "it will take more than 10 years 40 years for electric cars to gain footing in Africa even in the most developed and industrialised first world economies."

A lot of people just believe in fairy tales they read online about electric vehicles taking over. The fact is, that is still a dream; fossil fuels aren't going anywhere just yet.

obailala:
Wonderful!... You just sat down comfortably and washed off all Dangote's intelligence into a gutter. You really do think Dangote is so dumb to have sited the refinery where he did right?... You really think he didnt have all these elementary considerations thoroughly deliberated upon with experts before concluding on the location of the refiner?

And by the way, the refinery itself cost less than $10 billion; the rest of the funds covers a massive urea/fertiliser plant, a petrochemical plant and a 42" subsea gas pipeline from bonny to Lagos and other locations. You really do think Dangote is so dumb not to have thoroughly consulted and understood the prospects of these ventures before proceeding?... If the subsea gas pipeline alone is built, it effectively replaces the Escravos - Lagos pipeline and that piece of equipment alone is capable of recouping the entire invested funds in a decade.

I have stated my opinion and that is a fact that most billionaires know. That is why no one dared to gamble with expensive liquidity on such a very apparent behemoth located almost in the middle of no where near the source of the feed. Even when there are cheaper and better alternatives such as modular and customized systems. The fact that Dangote is a house-hold name does not make him immuned to mistakes. His tomatoes factory is down not so ? Now there is no structure on the farming side for backward integration. Hence he has to begin to grow the raw materials himself.

Makes no sense to me.

Hardeybohwarley:
Must you always display you dirty linen in public.

ha! I'll shoot you and justify doing so due to your extreme of studity.

Bishopsgate:
Bros Sani Gote is his brother. I can tell you this authoritatively. There is a very thin line here.

For the sake of privacy I will not even talk about why they separated the companies but it has to do with loans.

They are one and the same

u dont know anything bro....

Afam4eva:
Did he not do a feasibility study before venturing into a business with limited raw material?

As much as i respect Aliko Dangote, i think he's overrated as a business man because i can count how many businesses that he has failed at even as Nigeria's business man.

So business men do not fail?

Solstar:
I have stated my opinion and that is a fact that most billionaires know. That is why no one dared to gamble with expensive liquidity on such a very apparent behemoth located almost in the middle of no where near the source of the feed. Even when there are cheaper and better alternatives such as modular and customized systems. The fact that Dangote is a house-hold name does not make him immuned to mistakes. His tomatoes factory is down not so ? Now there is no structure on the farming side for backward integration. Hence he has to begin to grow the raw materials himself.

Makes no sense to me.

Thanks God you said "it makes no sense to YOU", there's nothing new about how you feel cos all the greatest men in the world were once thought to be foolish when they started. Although I must confess in this case that it's even very easy to see the wisdom in Dangote's refinery investment. When its completed, he would also complete the other facilities (i.e. the petrochemicals, fertiliser and the pipeline) from the proceeds; I foresee a near future where Dangote would be richer than the entire Nigeria put together if others don't sit up, and then people who called him names would start lamenting why one individual would be allowed to get so powerful.

Remember, "great men become great when others are asleep," or we could rephrase by saying "great men become great when others were busy doubting the potency of their ideas."

Afam4eva:
Did he not do a feasibility study before venturing into a business with limited raw material?

As much as i respect Aliko Dangote, i think he's overrated as a business man because i can count how many businesses that he has failed at even as Nigeria's business man.

Bro, business no dey easy like dat o.

no be money dey do am, no be research sef.

dat tin dey very complex and changes practically with time and events. Success in Business na by d grace of God o.

Meanwhile, ability to admit one failed despite being a Dangote, and quickly make a detour rather than sink with pride, is indeed an exceptional business virtue. But that factory would still be used sha.

LordKO:
...

For one, any player or stakeholder in the oil business knows that PMS refining constitues less than 25 percent of very many refinery products anywhere, Dangote's own inclusive. So, it smack of idiocy for anyone to erroneously and conclusively assert with boldness that because there's global "asumption" that electric cars are going to be the in-things in the foreseeable future automatically makes Dangote an unwise businessman. And the articulate incompetent of a writer that literally has no valuable productivity is automatically a wise one.

Manifestation of electric cars as the in-things in the foreseeable future can never have bad effect on Dangote's refinery. There's much to refinery than production of PMS. Let's all stop celebrating mediocrity.

...

Well done jare.

Didn't have the time to take on Solstar.

Some Nigerians are just amazing. At a time, they cried over not having a functional refinery in the country. Now that the refinery is forth coming, the cry now is that it is a waste of money. I'm beginning to understand why Dangote is not willing to go into politics.

Dangote should have given our company the task of supplying tomatoes @sylvafoodsng Sylvafoods Nig. ltd, we export and import farm produce to our customers.

obailala:
Thanks God you said "it makes no sense to YOU", there's nothing new about how you feel cos all the greatest men in the world were once thought to be foolish when they started. Although I must confess in this case that it's even very easy to see the wisdom in Dangote's refinery investment. When its completed, he would also complete the other facilities (i.e. the petrochemicals, fertiliser and the pipeline) from the proceeds; I foresee a near future where Dangote would be richer than the entire Nigeria put together if others don't sit up, and then people who called him names would start lamenting why one individual would be allowed to get so powerful.

Remember, "great men become great when others are asleep," or we could rephrase by saying "great men become great when others were busy doubting the potency of their ideas."

Dangote's Tomato factory hasnt survived 10 years, now there is no raw materials and no existing structures for back-ward integration. We are talking about billions sitting there in technological investments, idle funds sitting there while he goes into farming in order to produce raw materials. That should have been thought of, during the planning phase.

Dangote lost several billions for listing his businesses in foreign stock exchanges under index funds, and whether the bull is rampaging or bears comes out of hybernation, emerging markets loose. And he lost billions. I sometimes wonder if Dangote understand how Securities are traded in the real world, not the rubbish they do at Stock exchanges here. Prices are pushed by speculations and there are no good news coming from Africa, so that alone is a good ground to decimate their cap. I understand how this works and I have no time to share information on this, cos it takes months of studies and research works. Do you know there are people who knew Dangote would loose money the moment he listed his company ? Well, I am one of those who predicted it and it happened. I drank a shot of tequila to it, not because I was happy, but because my prediction was accurate.

Dangote sites a Refinery worth between $14 to $18b at a location without oil wells or blocs. The same mistake he made with Tomato paste factory. Building factories without considering the nearness of the feed but only on the potential to deliver products value chain to African countries via the Atlantic. Do you have idea how much it costs to pipe the feed across kilometers ? Do you know the cost of pipeline surveillance ? Do you know the human cost associated with trucking ? Dangote will break-even, we understand that. Dangote will make RoI, we understand that. Some people on this forum say he will 'cash out' and that is the language of 419 yahoo guys who love quick money. But no, in business of that magnitude, you project a 50 to 100 years timeline and the possibility of expansion to other countries using same module. That is why I said there are better investments to put such liquidity into.

There are people who try to win arguments even when they are ill-equipped by throwing around sentimental words like big man, has money, rich man, this and that. Ofcourse you may not know this, but let me remind you that most of Dangote's investments are presentment of other people's whitepapers and they are prone to miscalculations.

I am probably from a more advanced background with optimized business acumen for futuristic plans, so the commentary from you really shows how the average Nigerian thinks, which understandably is why the country is economically raped and bastardized.

So, you support Dangote because he is a big man without the slightest idea of how corporations are run and if Dangote is doing it right. No wonder his trucks kill people always without him facing justice. The next line of reasoning will be that he has outsourced his logistics unit, for the sake of humanity, escaping consequences via strategies of that nature echoes loudly the psychological deficit behind such reasoning, which makes me question the character behind the person at the helm of it all.

Nigeria needs new kind of thinking.

Please I no longer find it interesting to continue these arguments, if your businesses are successful based on such sentiments, then you are lucky. As for me, I have got mine covered using an optimized better business strategy.

This is my final post on this.

@fluentinfor, can we get other interesting thoughts on other topics from you via contact@opinions.ng

Other people with nice ideas are welcome.

abdullkabar:
what if say he had invested In artificial growth rooms or what is it called?
I feel there will definitely be a way around it,nothing is impossible,may just be hard and expensive

You mean greenhouses...

Too expensive & too low a capacity for
the level of processing planned by Dangote.

The other option would have been to adapt
his system to process other fruits, off season of
tomatoes.

Like, after glut of tomatoes, the next glut is
of mangoes, so, you can keep the factory plant
engaged by making mango juice CFJ.

The whole essence of processing is to
preserve for future use.

Like, you make amala flour when yam
is in excess (peak harvest time october to March)
not like now when a tuber can go for up to 1500.

It would be nice to read from Dangote's team too. Aroms that wrote the OP is not a dullard but let's read what Dangote's camp think for our education in Business Management and Economics.

I really enjoyed the contributions of everyone on this thread. Nice one guys.

Solstar:
Dangote's Tomato factory hasnt survived 10 years, now there is no raw materials and no existing structures for back-ward integration. We are talking about billions sitting there in technological investments, idle funds sitting there while he goes into farming in order to produce raw materials. That should have been thought of, during the planning phase.

Dangote lost several billions for listing his businesses in foreign stock exchanges under index funds, and whether the bull is rampaging or bears comes out of hybernation, emerging markets loose. And he lost billions. I sometimes wonder if Dangote understand how Securities are traded in the real world, not the rubbish they do at Stock exchanges here. Prices are pushed by speculations and there are no good news coming from Africa, so that alone is a good ground to decimate their cap. I understand how this works and I have no time to share information on this, cos it takes months of studies and research works. Do you know there are people who knew Dangote would loose money the moment he listed his company ? Well, I am one of those who predicted it and it happened. I drank a shot of tequila to it, not because I was happy, but because my prediction was accurate.

Dangote sites a Refinery worth between $14 to $18b at a location without oil wells or blocs. The same mistake he made with Tomato paste factory. Building factories without considering the nearness of the feed but only on the potential to deliver products value chain to African countries via the Atlantic. Do you have idea how much it costs to pipe products across kilometers ? Do you know the cost of pipeline surveillance ? Do you know the human cost associated with trucking ? Dangote will break-even, we understand that. Dangote will make RoI, we understand that. Some people on this forum say he will 'cash out' and that is the language of 419 yahoo guys who love quick money. But no, in business of that magnitude, you project a 50 to 100 years timeline and the possibility of expansion to other countries using same module. That is why I said there are better investments to put such liquidity into.

There are people who try to win arguments even when they are ill-equipped by throwing around sentimental words like big man, has money, rich man, this and that. Ofcourse you may not know this, but let me remind you that most of Dangote's investments are presentment of other people's whitepapers and they are prone to miscalculations.

I am probably from a more advanced background with optimized business acumen for futuristic plans, so the commentary from you really shows how the average Nigerian thinks, which understandably is why the country is economically raped and bastardized.

So, you support Dangote because he is a big man without the slightest idea of how corporations are run and if Dangote is doing it right. No wonder his trucks kill people always without him facing justice.

Nigeria needs new kind of thinking.

Please I no longer find it interesting to continue these arguments, if your businesses are successful based on such sentiments, then you are lucky. As for me, I have got mine covered using an optimized better business strategy.

This is my final post on this.

Oga, there's no businessman or business in this world that doesn't experience one or two setbacks. But success is all about perseverance and ensuring the successes outnumber the failures. It's laughable the way you continue to rubbish Dangote's intelligence / acumen whilst you brandish your own superior knowledge and understanding of business; you even go ahead to paint a picture that Dangote is only just a lucky person who thrives because he's functioning in a broken society like ours.

Talking about trying to win an argument, you're obviously the one so keen on winning a non-argument. Going back to your first post, you started by slamming Dangote for a poor business decision of investing $14 - $18 billion on a refinery when electric cars and solar panels were supposed to be the future. Whilst I agreed with every other thing you said in that post, I and several others on this thread totally disagreed with your assertion that fossil fuels/refinery was bad business. Ever since then, you've been moving from one point to the other trying to justify your original point about Dangote not being a smart businessman lately; that to me seems like a person desperate to win an argument.

not everything someone read on Nl or internet is to quickly believed

CoolFreeday:
if this is true, then I'm going to add tomato to list of what to farm.


I dont know why Nigerians don't like farming though its very lucrative

no social life

hisgrace090:
This is why it pains me whenever I read about Nigeria exporting scarce food that can hardly go through Nigerians.

It is good to export things, but you must attain some level of local sufficiency before that.

The chinies produces cars for more than 40yrs before exporting one, claiming they have never attain local sufficiency.

supply demand price
IF international market demand more than you with higher price, Who do you think farmer will sell to. Who local sufficiency epp

SternProphet:
Everybody missed the lesson in this story due to shallowness and lack of depth of thinking .
The TOMATO venture has not failed. The factory was wrongly sized for the available produce and ran out of raw mateial.
A factory can be mothballed and start up again but to leave a business because of a small mistake like this is strange
Dangote goes in big in everything. This is a big mistake. He should have started medium scale and grown his own supply chain organically through out grower farmers

was it a mistake or tuta absoluta that caused the hiccup?

he failed in the tomato business

fluentinfor:
Poor analysis by the writer in my own opinion. So, the writer is saying that the richest man in Nigeria did not carry out his research very well? Well, I am sure the writer is naive about agriculture in Nigeria.

Dangote is not only a business man and investor, but also a philantropist.
5
Let me tell you, he ventured into agricultural processing because he does not want to take over the opportunities for farmers to earn more. If he had established his farm, all those poor farmers would have been crying that he took their land, jobs etc. Are we not in this Nigeria when one state governor was forcing him to invest in farmers in the north? They refused to sell him land, but suggested he partners with local farmers. You and I know how land issues are in Nigeria.

But have you really worked with those demons called local farmers? You get them free input - seeds, fertilizers, agrochemical, etc and they will produce well. Instead of them to sell back to you with discount as the contract says, they try to play smart by selling to another buyer in order to get full price. But you gave them the input free of charge. I guess the writer is naive who just woke up to write gabbage. The writer is the one with spiritual problems and not Dangote. Funny writer, he is asking if the richest man in Nigeria who can feed 10 generations of his, has got spiritual issues? Obviously, he is the one with spiritual blindness.

Can the farmers be sued for breach of contract and arrested?

Was the writer in pluto when ebola bombarded tomato farms some years ago? Oh! The writer thinks it was accidental and happened the same period Aliko Dangote's factory was just starting? The writer is naive seriously that he does not know there are cabals in Agricultural businesses. So, if most farmers in Kano or Kaduna sell to dangote tomato factory, how will those cabals that import tomatoes to Lagos, Ogun, Uyo, Ibadan etc make cash. Do you know the kind of commission these cabals take from every truck that enters major markets? Seriously, some writers are suppose to be spanked. And this one is a candidate for 100 lashes.

This writer does not understand how GEJ and Adeshina Akinwunmi fought cabals in fertilizer subsidy. Honestly, some people just talk foolishly. And this writer is one. So annoying gabbage he wrote. I wish to know him personally and talk wisdom into his blocked head. So annoying.

Dangote knows the game. Let us just watch him. I believe his focus is more on the oil refinery he is building. In my own opinion, Aliko will be back. Aliko knows he needs to fight some cabals to make it work. Just let us wait patiently and see what happens next.

Lastly, it is true. Nigeria produces tomato almost too much. Majority get spoilt. It is very true. Successful tomato farmers are super rich. I know this because I am a farmer. My advice is that we should learn about a subject before making comments so we do not show some level of stupidity. It is annoying when people with zero faculty talk nonsemse about great minds. Aliko has my respect anyday, anytime.

Afam4eva:
Tell me who has wielded as much monopoly as Dangote has in the history of Nigeria?

The reason i'm calling his business acumen to question is that in every industry that he has delved into except cement and places where he had monopoly, he hasn't done well and has had to close down. Is it Dangote Spargetti, Indomie

If you have a business bringing 20 billion
And another (cement) worth 200 billio
Will you hold unto the tiny one that takes up too much of your time?
He sold it to tiger brands he did not fail

and the Telecoms company?

Has he started it
Why compete when you can monopolise
What were LAfarGE and elephant cement looking at while he was building cement plants

Now the tomato company? Someone like Dangote, should, in the least do proper feasibility study before delving into any business. That's the baseline.

which feasibility will predict tuta absoluta

abdullkabar:
wow,I like the angle you saw it from.
No wonder its hard to really make a difference in Nigeria,too much obstacles and things to consider

yet Mtn
Dstv
Shoprite
Are making a
difference
Keep playing the victim

Bishopsgate:
I love your piece. It makes slot of sense and shows both intellectual prowess and humour. Thanks

I will like to answer one of the questions you asked on how he finances his projects:-

I have been opportuned to work in a couple of banks in Nigeria so I can tell you categorically that Dangote Industries is the most leveraged company in Nigeria.
Nigerian banks lend to him both in Naira and USD by creating consortiums of 5 or more banks.

He is also very leveraged internationally as he owes slot of foreign banks and finance corporations. These international loans are one of the advantages he has because they come in single digit interest rates and are usually collaterised with less ambiguity than In Nigeria.

Most businesses in Nigeria don't have people with banking experience that know how to access and utilise credit facilities (locally and internationally).

They take loans and from day one of operations they start to eat the gains forgetting that the loan and the costs have to be properly amortised and cycled out to determine it's break even point. It is only at that point that you can start jollofing. Nigerians mostly don't and that is why the businesses more often fail.

Dangote is a shrewed business man. Do you know that all DMBs in Nigeria have a pre-prepared credit line for him. He need to apply, they approach him because the factories are there, the value being created is visible, the costs and profit margins can be determined simply by looking at his business model.

I my view the man needs to come out more and share his knowledge and thoughts with people.

This is a Hausa man whose Yoruba is splendid. He is a good business man abeg

did not know he can speak Yoruba o

wordcat:
Dongote is not a businessman.

Some selected people in power are just using Dangote to hide their loot if not, tell me why one man will be given license to solely do a business that more than hundred people can do?

name the business or forever hold your peace? When did govt issue license for rice or wheat farming abi it's your laziness?
Did govt you from building cement plant?
28 ppl collected refinery license, .....since obj time, where are the refineries?
You better stop hating and find your own niche

Rainmania:
You dey mind all these block heads for here. Them go just open mouth and talk gibberish. I mean he is even alluding it to spiritual attack! And most of the kids here will take what he says as the gospel and go out there and preach it. And the stupidness recycles

we need stupid ppl tocontrast the wise ones

uuzba:
In the old days, before effizy began, agriculture was all that we engaged in. Today, one Toyota Corolla costs about N11,000,000.

How many mangos can you sell to buy one Toyota corolla (don't forget to add petrol, servicing and insurance money).

The trade in crude oil has messed up our economy. Crude oil income was NEVER meant to be used for buying FINISHED GOODS. It should have been used to support EXISTING industries, equipping universities.

The more we used crude income (foreign exchange $$$$) to purchase finished goods (toothpick) the more the value of our naira fell.

So what was your answer? How many mango trees and mangos should be sold to buy one Toyota corolla?

500,000 and 1.1 million mangoes

gentlegenius:
Very nice write up... But you've forgotten to mention that Dangote even declared interest in buying a football club like Arsenal FC... This shows lack of focus- the very reason why he's been making wrong business moves in recent times.

what is wrong with buying a profitable football club?what is he supposed to focus on?

PrecisionFx:
Dangote knows nothing about being successful in the business sphere.

He only became very wealthy in Nigeria because of Monopoly of cement n Sugar for very many years.

did anybody hold LAfarGE or elephant from building more plants. They were happy with their local champion status, now you're lamenting.
Who stopped you from plantingsugar cane?
Govt ba?