naptu2:
Part 6
Alhaji Aliko Dangote
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Aliko Dangote was born in the northern Nigerian state of Kano on April 10, 1957 into a wealthy Hausa-Muslim family. His mother Mariya Sanusi Dantata was the granddaughter of legendary businessman Alhassan Dantata, and his father Mohammed Dangote was Dantata’s business associate.
Dangote had an early interest in business “I can remember when I was in primary school, I would go and buy cartons of sweets and I would start selling them just to make money. I was so interested in business, even at that time.” He attended the Al Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt (the oldest university in the world) studying business studies, before working for his uncle Sanusi Abdulkadir Dantata who eventually gave him a business loan at the age of 21.
Dangote Group
Dangote started trading commodities and building materials in Kano in 1977. He moved to Lagos that summer and, encouraged by the success of his business ventures so far, incorporated two companies in 1981
The Dangote Group, originally a small trading firm founded in 1977, is now a multi-trillion-naira conglomerate with operations in Benin, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroun, Zambia, South Africa and Togo. Dangote’s businesses include food processing, cement manufacturing, and freight. The Dangote Group dominates the sugar market in Nigeria: it is the major sugar supplier to the country’s soft drink companies, breweries, and confectioners. Dangote Group has moved from being a trading company to Nigeria’s largest industrial group, including Dangote Sugar Refinery (the most capitalized company on the Nigeria Stock Exchange, valued at over US$3 billion with Aliko Dangote’s equity topping US$2 billion), Africa’s largest Cement Production Plant: Obajana Cement, Dangote Flour amongst others.
Aliko Dangote has a knack for seeing opportunity that others can't see. He approached the Nigerian Ports Authority with the idea of leasing an abandoned piece of land at the Apapa Port, where he subsequently built facilities for his flour company. When other flour companies protested, the chairman of the NPA, Chief Olabode George stated that Dangote was the one who came up with the idea. Similarly, in the 1990s he approached the Central Bank of Nigeria with the idea that it would be cheaper for the bank to allow his transport company to manage their fleet of staff buses.
Today Dangote Group dominates the sugar market in Nigeria 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. Dangote Group also owns salt factories and flour mills and is a major importer of rice, fish, pasta, cement and fertilizer. The company also exports cotton, cashew nuts, cocoa, sesame seed and ginger to several countries. Dangote Group also has major investments in real estate, banking, transport, textiles and oil and gas. It employs over 18,000 people and is the largest industrial conglomerate in West Africa.
Dangote is branching into telecommunications and has started building 14,000 kilometres of fibre optic cables to supply the whole of Nigeria. He was honoured in January 2009 as the leading provider of employment in the Nigerian construction industry.
“[Nigerians] can be even bigger than me, ” he said “you just have to believe that yes, there is a future in this country of ours and I can tell you right now, I don’t believe we have even started doing anything in Nigeria because the opportunities are so enormous. I don’t even know where to start.
“Let me tell you this and I want to really emphasize it…nothing is going to help Nigeria like Nigerians bringing back their money. If you give me $5 billion today, I will invest everything here in Nigeria. Let us put our heads together and work.”
Political contributions and associates
Dangote played a prominent role in the funding of Obasanjo’s re-election campaign in 2003, to which he contributed over N200 million (US$2M). He gave N50 million (US$0.5M) to the National Mosque under the aegis of “Friends of Obasanjo and Atiku”, and contributed N200 million to the Presidential Library. These controversial gifts to members of the ruling People’s Democratic Party have contributed to concerns over continued graft despite highly publicized anti-corruption drive during Obasanjo’s second term. Alhaji Dangote was also one of the major players in getting President Umaru Yar’Adua elected.
Nigerians are generally proud of Dangote’s achievements, but many insist that his business acquisitions were unfairly gained due to his links with Nigeria’s ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo and that his virtual monopoly over much of Nigeria’s commodities is stifling competition. “I am close to people in government because I am one of the big businessmen in Nigeria,” he said. “If we don’t have the right people there then all the money I have is useless”.
The recent increase in cement prices, an industry dominated by Dangote Group, forced the government to allow cement imports in the hope that the competition would lower prices, much to the annoyance of Dangote. Dangote’s unanimous election as president of the Nigerian Stock Exchange further led to accusations of unfair business practice as two of his businesses are listed on the exchange.
Wealth
Worth $3.3 billion in 2008, Dangote was the richest black African to appear on Forbes’ Billionaire list and beat Oprah Winfrey to become the world’s richest black person. Alhaji Aliko Dangote has been a major player in Nigerian commerce since the 1970s and his business empire controls the import and export of a variety of products in West Africa. This led to speculation that he was the wealthiest African in the world, but he said, “I think I have to be rated by Forbes magazine first before I can be [called] the richest man in Africa.”
Dangote got his wish in 2008 when he debuted as the first Nigerian on the annual Forbes’ Billionaires list with a $3.3 billion fortune, and became the richest black person on the planet taking the title from media mogul Oprah Winfrey ($2.5 billion). He was ranked No. 334 in the world (No. 1 was America’s Warren Buffet with $62 billion), and although Egypt (The Sawiris family: $32 billion) and South Africa (The Oppenheimer family: $5.7 billion) had richer men, Aliko is the first African billionaire of fully Black African ancestry to be listed.
Sub-Saharan Africans were usually absent from Forbes magazine’s annual compilation of the world’s 1,000+ billionaires. Past African presidents like Congo’s Mobutu and Nigeria’s Sani Abacha probably became billionaires after pocketing their country’s wealth, but Forbes did not confirm or legitimise their money.
Dangote was the first verifiable Black African billionaire, with Patrice Motsepe of South Africa also on the list with $2.4 billion from his mining company. Forbes reportedly wanted to feature Dangote on the cover of the 2008 magazine but he politely declined.
He said he was grateful to God for the achievement: “The signs are very good for Nigeria. Next year, I expect at least five Nigerians to be on the list.”
But that was not to be as the 2009 list showed the effects of the global recession with many billionaires making huge loses or dropping off the list altogether. Aliko’s wealth fell to $2.5 billion owing to a 70% fall in share prices, but he moved up the world ranking to No. 261. The 2009 list also featured another Nigerian, oil magnate Femi Otedola with $1.2 billion.
Dangote controls much of Nigeria’s commodities trade through his corporate and political connections. With an estimated net worth of around US$ 2.5 billion (2009), he was ranked by Forbes as one of the richest black African citizens and the third richest person of African descent in the world behind Mohammed Al Amoudi ($9.0 billion) and Oprah Winfrey ($2.7 billion.).
In 2011, Dangote was ranked as the richest person of African descent, with an estimated worth of $13.8 billion, relegating Mohammed al Amoudi (12.3 billion) and Oprah Winfrey (2.7 billion) to second and third places respectively.
In the 2012 Forbes list, Dangote is ranked number 76 with a net worth of $11.2b. |
