₦airaland Forum

naptu2:
Lessons from the Dantata/Dangote story:

1) Do not get involved in partisan politics, but make sure you are close to the authorities (Chief MKO Abiola would have benefited from this advice).


2) Do not be overly flamboyant or ostentatious (it breeds jealousy, envy and hatred). Again, Chief Abiola would have benefited from this advice.


3) As a family unit, you gain more from cooperation than from conflict (he advised them to continue to marry within the family and to take care of the poorer members of the family). Note that Aliko Dangote worked for Abdulkadir Sanusi Dantata and got a business loan from him. Sayyu Dantata worked for Aliko Dangote and got his business idea while serving as chief executive of Dangote Transport. Witness what is happening in the Abiola and Ibru families.


4) Education is important. Make sure you know about the business you are involved in and that you have broad knowledge that would assist you in future. Alhassan had an advantage over other Kano merchants because he understood basic english and basic accounting, enough to help him in his dealings with others.

5) Volume trading: As much as possible, make sure you are the dominant player in your area of business, such that you can control events and prices within that sector.

quaintbloke:
I think we should be very circumspect with supposed rags to riches stories cos they're baked in half truths.
One theme runs through all these stories, they had a good and respected family name.
In 10yrs time, someone would wake up and run a well lettered story of how Awolowo's grandson or Otedola's great grand kid became a billionaire by dint of hard work, forgetting that the family name alone guarantees open doors.
Again let's not discountenance the fact that these guys got up there with favourable government policies and patronage.
Stories like this make the average Nigerian depressed cos the average Nigerian is smart and hardworking but they haven't made their millions due to unfavourable government policies.

Dpharisee:
Anybody in Nigeria can also become a billionaire if you have access to the kind of government patronage they have received over the years. Contracts were arbitrarily awarded to Dantata to develop Abuja at overpriced contract sums by military rulers.
Dangote had his competitors such as Ibeto Cement ran out of the market using federal schism to enable him to become a monopoly in several commodities such as Cement, Sugar, Salt etc, with enormous amounts of waivers running into billions for their import business while his opponents cant get access to FOREX easily even till now. BUA Cement survived his onslaught because it is majorly owned by another Fulani elitist family Isyaku Rabiu and they are still at loggerheads.

Even TY Danjuma had to confess that he was given an oil block for free and at a point the billions was so much and still accumulating that he didnt know what to do with it until somebody suggested he start up TY Danjuma foundation. Tommorow there will be a writeup about the Danjuma family becoming billionaires by dint of 'hardwork'.

Traders and small importers cant get FOREX at official rate but these billionaire families get it and round trip making billions from doing nothing according to Emir Sanusi Lamido.

Dantata/Dangote made their money cheating other Nigerians by using the machinery of govt and by virtue of northern hegemony in their favour all these years.

BanevsJoker:
Remember how they conspired to put Ibeto out of business.

naptu2:
Some people (especially on the first page) are reacting based on what they've heard before, without actually reading what's written here.

Drakkernoir:
Don't mind them...ignoring the total content of the message.

How many other rich families can boast of continued wealth...thru their descendants...

How many spoilt rich kids have wasted their families wealth on frivolities...

Mko Abiola's family comes to mind

blowjohn:
All I needed was the caption.
Omo, give 50 nigerians 100 million naira and see if at least 35 of them wont turn billionaires and form dynasties.
Una no know say capital no dey?
These r not days of humble beginnings or started from the bottom shit.
These are days that capitals do the talk.
That's the age we live in if not inflation go dance shaku shaku for ur head.

Gerrard59:
Most billionaires globally dine with politicians. Either through lobbying or whatever means.

Adscampaign:
Many people in this thread have shown exactly the mentally poor people show... Always blaming the rich for their inability..

You seem to forget the story of Alhassan dantata, how he built wealth from nothing...

You see how the wealth was maintained in the family...

There are Soo many families with bigger access to the government and there are no where to be found...

You ppl really need to change your mentality or else, you might remain where you are...

Many people just like to blame others for their woes and that's a really terrible mentality... Instead of thinking of how to rectify whatever issue they have, they keep on the blame game...

Kwantiniu, Las Las, you na go dey alright

gforce5:
Many of the posters do not understand (not surprised) of the topic. Most rich families in this part of the world exhaust their family fortunes within a generation due to various reasons. The Dantata/Dangote dynasty have been able to sustain their wealth through shrewd decisions. They married within themselves thereby keeping the wealth within the family. They ensured that each member of the family is business savvy and not a liability. They are financially prudent and are neutral when it comes to politics.

If many wealthy families (such as the Abiolas, Ojukwus and inevitably the Ibrus) had followed this rule, their family fortune would not have gone down the drain within a short period.

The fact is that most wealthy families in this part of the world do not last long compared to their European and Asian counterparts due to lack of foresight. They, like most Nigerians, are more interested in the short-term as opposed to the long-term.

Jeferious:
This is the best thread I have seen since I joined Nairaland. So many practical financial lessons to learn here.

Personally, I sometimes wish that incest was not seen as a taboo. I would have married my own sister. She is a good manager of finance, a great records-keeper and a brilliant salesperson. I doubt if I will marry if I can't find someone like her who is also a decently wealthy home.

Op, well-done. You can do better than this anyway. We lazy Nigerian youths need something this educative

Jeferious:
This is the best thread I have seen since I joined Nairaland. So many practical financial lessons to learn here.

Adscampaign:
Many people in this thread have shown exactly the mentally poor people show... Always blaming the rich for their inability..

You seem to forget the story of Alhassan dantata, how he built wealth from nothing...

Alhassan remained in Bebeji until matters had settled down and the roads were secure, only then did he set out for Accra, by way of Ibadan and Lagos (Ikko) and then by sea to Accra and then to Kumasi, Sekondi and back to Lagos. Alhassan was one of the pioneers of this route. For several years, he carried his kola by sea, using steamers; to Lagos where he usually sold it to Kano bound merchants. By this time, he was relatively wealthy. In 1906, he began broadening his interests by trading in beads, necklaces, European cloth, etc.

Nmeri17:
Naptu2, it's been said countless times but not from me yet: you are a blessing to this forum. How does one pronounce your moniker?


Kindly share some of these financial lessons


But did he really, though?

So this dude used his savings (from begging on The streets) to sponsor business trips from the northern protectorate to Ghanaian cities, buy goods (kolanut o) in quantity. And the profits from selling kolanut were enough to make him "relatively wealthy". Erm, is there a modern day equivalent of kolanuts? Was there a time it was justified to have some kind of boutique/showroom for it? If no, how do you go from literally selling peanuts b2b to branching out into various foray of enterprise? Doesn't add up to me. The chronology is a joy to read but something undocumented happened along the line.

So, what happened to the other merchants who led the vanguard on the new route? Mismanagement of funds? Cowardice to expand into unfamiliar territory? He monopolized/ neutralised them? Nobody is asking. This story doesn't tell me how to go from being a common civil servant to an international business mogul. I'm not saying he was a fraudster or drug dealer. Maybe luck played a large role. I feel years eventually obscure dents on income strategies. 50/70 years from now, nobody will care what hotel was built with Yahoo money.

Whatever he did sha clearly wasn't mainstream knowledge. He was ahead of the curve in some way he could capitalize on and climb above everyone else. I imagine if someone has a rough idea of a modern day equivalent of what transpired, they'd have been dollar millionaires by now too, but let me ask anyway. Please PM me if you need to.

TL;DR: Alhassan Dantata was the plug who performed some magic and got excess capital to trade with. Used it to dig his hands into multiple income streams until he got noticed by the feds. They awarded him a bunch of contracts and he really blew up. His sons were Aminu and Sanusi , who is now late. Sanusi whose bro, Abdulkadri, lent his nephew, Dangote, seed funding when he was 24. Dangote's mommy, Mariya, is still hale and hearty; married her grandfather's business associate and is the daughter of Sanusi. At each generation, members of this family are at the helm of the most critically demanded products in the country. They live for attending to a large scale of consumers — oil, flour, cement, groundnuts, electricity, slightly real estate. Strategic endeavors the populace depends on.

Surprisingly, they have no investments in telecom, automobiles, transportation. Probably the next generation's mandate. These guys can afford to banish all the deficiencies we're suffering today. They're everywhere they want to be, do whatever they wanna do. But that'll make the future of the empire insecure

naptu2:
The Hausa, Fulani and Kanuri merchants

The states around the sahel region of west Africa have for long been involved in international trade and international relations. Indeed, before the advent of the white man to west Africa, the area presently known as northern Nigeria had greater access to European and Asian markets than the area presently known as southern Nigeria. This was because the Sahara desert served the purpose that the Atlantic Ocean would later play; that is the role of an international trade route. At that time, people in southern Nigeria did not know how to sail across the oceans, could not build ships that could sail across the oceans, neither did they possess such ships. The northerners on the other hand, knew how to travel long distances across the Sahara, using camel caravans. With these they were able to trade with states in North Africa, Europe, Asia and with other states in the West African Sahel region. For example, Mai Dibbalemi (c1400) of the Kanem-Bornu Empire built a hostel (known as riwag or madrasa) in Cairo where pilgrims and students from Kanem could reside. He also established an embassy in Tunisia. He fought the Fezzan, for example, to secure the trade route to Cairo.


Borno was important in the trans-Saharan caravan trade. Slaves were imported from the south and North African traders visited Borno. The fame of Borno stretched far and wide and was even mentioned by a Portuguese cartographer in the fifteenth century. Mai Mohammed also sent an embassy to Tripoli in 1512. Likewise Mai Idris Alooma sent an embassy to Tripoli and received musketeers for his army.


Lugard and Hausa traders

In the field of trade, there were three possible agents of modernisation whose activities, if wisely fostered, would have speeded up the introduction of the cash economy, of currency and of cash crops and the end of the old economy of barter, slave-raiding and slavery. These were: the trader from the coastal areas, the European trader and the Hausa trader (This excludes the Arab trader plying between Tripoli and Kano, the Levantine trader on the west coast and the flourishing trade between the northern part of the Gold Coast and Northern Nigeria; these trading systems were less susceptible to administrative controls).

Lugard’s antipathy to traders from the outside, whether white or black, might considerably have been redeemed by active encouragement of the Hausa trader. But here again the old Adam of his “instinct” seems to have got the better of him and his chief concern was to see that they and their “caravans” did not go untaxed. In the areas where there was sufficient security of life and property to permit the trader to take the risk of travelling alone and not in convoy, he could avoid the caravan toll-stations by striking off the road.

This made the Hausa trader a criminal and legitimate quarry. According to Lugard’s way of thinking, every Hausa trader was one toiler less in the fields; he deplored the Hausas’ “keen trading instinct” which brought about “an undue tendency to desert the paths of productive industry and to go to and fro through the country carrying goods on their heads for the pleasure of making a profit by barter. The problem is, how can this class be taxed except by tolls”

naptu2:
Sir Louis Phillipe Odumegwu Ojukwu, KBE, (1909-1966)

www.nairaland.com/attachments/665662_sir20louis20Odumegwu20Ojukwu_jpga1a9a825590a3332a276a024eba34cc7

Sir Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu was an extremely successful Nigerian businessman and politician from the Ojukwu family of Nwakanwa Quarters Obiuno Umudim Nnewi south east of Onitsha in modern Anambra State. One of the most illustrious citizens of Nigeria, he had remarkable success as a businessman and also rendered distinguished public service in several fields. He was also associated with several philanthropic and cultural organisations to which he made generous material and tacit contributions.

He was born in 1909 in Nnewi and attended a primary school in Asaba and the Hope Waddell Institute. After formal schooling he joined the Produce Inspection Service as produce examiner in 1928 and later worked as a clerk with the large West African trading company of John Holt. It was here that the self made man who later became one of Nigeria’s foremost business tycoons and a multi-millionaire developed his business interest. He incorporated a textile company in Onitsha to supplement his income during this period, already exhibiting a little bit of his entrepreneurial spirit. While at John Holt, he noticed the severe strain a lack of adequate transportation had on Eastern textile traders He resigned from John Holt in 1934 to start a transport business with one second-hand truck that later grew into a vast transport enterprise. As a transporter he was a tireless worker and meticulous to detail; he was usually the first to inspect his transport vehicles for oil and leakages. His transport company (Ojukwu"s Transport Company) was the first major transport company to move the easterners to Lagos from the Asaba end of the Niger river after they might have crossed over from Onitsha on a boat.

He entered politics in 1951 as a member of Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe’s National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC) which included him in the delegation to the London Constitutional Conference in 1951. Four years later Odumegwu Ojukwu was elected to the Federal House of Representatives in Lagos, but resigned in 1956 to become chairman of the Eastern Region Development Corporation.

Apart from his work ethic, his success was also oiled by the economic boom after World War II, working with the West African Railway Company and the newly inaugurated produce boards, he provided his fleet for commodity transportation and for other traders use. During the 1950s, he diversified his interest, bought some industries and invested heavily in the real estate sector.

His success, drive and ability led him to a host of other business appointments as chairman of the Eastern Nigerian Marketing Board, chairman of the Nigerian Shipping Line, chairman of the Nigerian Cement Company, first and founding President of The Nigerian Stock Exchange and director of a number of business concerns including Shell-BP. He was also a member of the board of Nigerian Coal Corporation. His last public engagement was as chairman of the Eastern Nigeria Marketing Board. He resigned from this position and also from office as chairman of the African Continental Bank, in May 1966 as a result of ill health.

His own company, founded on the Ojukwu Transport Company in 1934, had at the time of his death in 1966 spread its activities into construction and other areas, growing into a multi-million-naira group and employing thousands of workers.

In 1953, he was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal; he was knighted in 1960. In 1963 the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Law, becoming the first to be so honoured by that university. He died on September 13th 1966 at Nkalagu in his home state, at the age of 57.

Ojukwu’s death came a few months after the first Nigerian civilian government was ended by a military coup d’etat which saw his son, Lieutenant-Colonel Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, ascend to office as Military Governor of Eastern Nigeria. Lieutenant-Colonel Ojukwu later declared the region, which he renamed Biafra, independent of the Federation of Nigeria, but secession was ended after a three-year bitter civil war in 1970.

naptu2:
Henry Oloyede Fajemirokun (1926-78 )

www.nairaland.com/attachments/665710_Henry20Oloyede20Fajemirokun_jpg4f1e0948fd6612b26d9cd16681e20699


Henry Oloyede Fajemirokun was a prominent Nigerian businessman and one of the country's dynamic indigenous entrepreneurs who promoted West Africa's economic integration.

He was born in Ile-Oluji in Ondo State, Nigeria on July 14 1926. Between 1932 and 1936 he attended St Peter’s School in his birthplace and later St Luke’s School in Oke-Igbo, from 1937 to 1940. He had his secondary education at C.M.S Grammar School, Lagos and Ondo Boys’ High School.

In April 1944, Fajemirokun enlisted in the old Royal West African Frontier Force and in 1945 served with the 2nd Echelon at Jhansi GHQ in India. After army service in 1946, he pursued an accountancy career, joining the post and telecommunications division of the colonial civil service. He was elected president of the Post and Telecommunications Ex-servicemen’s Union in 1948 and later became president-general of the Nigerian Civil Service Union until 1956, when he left to start a business career, which at the time of his death in March 1978 spanned a whole spectrum of ventures from insurance and engineering to shipping, centred around Henry Stephens and Sons.

He started business in the 1950s by exporting hides and skin, rubber, coffee and shea nuts. In the 1960s he started a massive importation of cement from Egypt and Poland. He received funding for this particular venture from a credit facility that had been provided to him by a British bank in London. He also ventured into commodity brokerage and in 1969 he bought and held a seat on the London Stock Exchange.

Later in the decade, as the chairman and largest shareholder of the Henry Stephens group of companies, he became a major shareholder in some leading companies in Nigeria. Following a decision to withdraw the wealth of the country from foreign nationals that was taken in 1972, an “indigenisation” decree was promulgated by the Federal Government. Henry Stephens capitalized on the euphoria of the contemporary nationalism of the period and acquired or represented major foreign operations in the country. It became the sole distributor for Xerox after the Daily Times, a company Fajemirokun had failed to acquire a stake in, left negotiations. Henry Stephens also acquired stakes in Johnson Wax and Fan Milk. The company was a pioneer in the Nigerian maritime industry and was one of the first Nigerian companies to own an interest in a shipping line

In 1970 he was appointed president of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry; in 1972 he became president of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Mines; the same year he was elected the first president of the Federation of West African Chambers of Commerce, followed in 1974 with the vice presidency of the Federation of Commonwealth Chambers of Commerce. Henry Fajemirokun was one of the two co-presidents of the Nigeria-British Chamber of Commerce and also a member of the Board of Governors of the Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce.


Henry Fajemirokun was not only a successful businessman; he was also a respected man in Nigeria. In 1968, in appreciation of his own contributions to the development of his province, the Jegun of Ile-Oluji conferred the chieftaincy title of Yegbato of Ile-Oluji on him. In 1971 he was given the title of Asiwaju of Okeigbo and the University of Ife conferred on him the honorary degree of Doctor of Science. A few days before his death – in Abidjan, while leading a trade mission to the Ivory Coast – he presented a cheque for N 15,000 to help build a town hall in Ile-Ife.

naptu2:
I was trying to remember this man's name yesterday, but I couldn't. Then today, as I'm about to go out, I suddenly remember his name.

There are many returnees that contributed to the growth of Lagos, but I'm going to use him as an example because his story is related to many of the events that I wrote about yesterday.

1) Captain James Pinson Labulo Davies


https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/A_portrait_of_James_Pinson_Labulo_Davies%2C_photographed_in_London_in_1862.jpg


JPL Davies was born in Bathurst, Sierra Leone. His parents were from Abeokuta, but they had been captured and sold into slavery. They were eventually rescued by the british naval squadron and taken to Sierra Leone.

He attended CMS Grammar School in Freetown, became a teacher and eventually enlisted in the Royal Navy. He was a lieutenant on HMS Bloodhound when it bombarded Lagos in 1851. He was wounded in action during the bombardment. He retired from the navy in 1852 and became a merchant ship captain and eventually settled in Lagos in 1856.

CMS Grammar School

JPL Davies was a good friend of Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther and he provided the seed funds for the creation of CMS Grammar School (the first secondary school in Nigeria) in April 1859, when he provided £50 (equivalent of about N 1.34 million as of 2014) to buy books and equipment for the school. With the seed funding Macaulay opened CMS Grammar School on June 6, 1859 (remember that this was before Lagos was colonised. The treaty of cessation was signed in 1861).

In 1867, Davies contributed another £100 (N2.68 million as of 2014) toward a CMS Grammar School Building Fund. Other contributors to the CMS Building Fund were non Saros such as Daniel Conrad Taiwo AKA Taiwo Olowo who contributed £50. Saro contributors also included men such as Moses Johnson, I.H. Willoughby, T.F. Cole, James George, and Charles Foresythe who contributed £40. The CMS Grammar School in Freetown, founded in 1848, served as a model.

Cocoa farming

JPL Davies was also the first cocoa farmer in West Africa. He obtained cocoa seeds from a brazilian ship in 1879 and 1880 and set up a prosperous cocoa farm in Lagos.

He was married to Sarah Forbes Bonetta, who was originally from what later became Benin Republic, but was sold into slavery. She was rescued by the british and became Queen Victoria's god daughter.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/A_portrait_of_James_Pinson_Labulo_Davies_and_Sarah_Forbes_Bonetta%2C_photographed_in_London_in_1862.jpg


2) St Gregory's Grammar School

The saros/protestants now had their secondary school, so the agudas/catholics also wanted their own secondary school (they already had several primary schools).

The agudas wrote several letters to Rome seeking for permission to set up a catholic secondary school. They were prepared to build it, but they wanted permission and priests and teachers who would teach in the school. In 1868 their request was granted after the usual exchange of petitions and letters between them and the home mission.

St Gregory's Grammar School was established in 1876 (St Gregory's Grammar School became St Gregory's College in 1928).

Note that the first colonial government secondary school in Lagos (Kings College) was only set up in 1909.

naptu2:
Err, there are a couple of things here.

1) They are and were heavily involved in transportation. In fact, transportation is one of the businesses that they were very famous for (multiple members of the family were very famous for that). Alhassan was a director in the Nigerian Railway Corporation, Aminu Dantata had a haulage company, Sanusi Dantata had a haulage company, Aliko Dangote had a haulage company and in fact, in the 1990s, he convinced the Central Bank (CBN) to allow him manage their transportation needs (he managed CBN's fleet of Coaster staff buses and they all had "Dan" written on them). Sayyu Dantata was once the chief executive officer of Dangote Transport and that's when he realised that he could make a lot of money from diesel because it was difficult to get diesel for their fleet). My mum used to say (a long time ago when she was still alive) that people like Aminu Dantata and Ibrahim Dasuki destroyed the Nigerian Railway Corporation so that their haulage businesses would thrive (I don't agree with her, but her theory is evidence of how popular and big Dantata and Dasuki's haulage businesses were).

2) They were also involved in telecommunications. Tajudeen Dantata was on the board of Starcomms, which was once the biggest CDMA network in Nigeria. Aliko Dangote also has investments in telecoms (through Alheri Engineering). Tajudeen Dantata was also on the board of Virgin Nigeria Airways.
[img]http://naijachronicles.files./2020/01/tajudeen2.jpg[/img]


3) They also had investments in automobiles. Aminu Dantata was once one of the biggest distributors of Mercedes Benz.

Read the posts again, you'll find references to all these businesses.


4) There are some goods that once provided huge profits, but are no longer as profitable as they once were, so the younger generation might not understand how big these things once were. There are many of them in this story. Grounduts, cocoa, etc were once Nigeria's major source of income, equivalent to the crude oil of later years. (Pinson Labulo Davies in Lagos became incredibly wealthy from cocoa around the same time and he provided the funds with which CMS Grammar School, the first secondary school in Nigeria, was built).

http://www.commodityhistories.org/research/peanuts-and-economic-dependence-french-west-africa

When I wrote that Dantata traded with UAC, it might not mean much to some, but UAC was once the biggest company in Nigeria and many of the people who are very wealthy today (the Abebes, the Murray-Bruces, etc) trace the source of their family wealth back to UAC. In 1986, a friend of mine said that being chairman of Shell (the largest oil company in Nigeria) or UAC (the largest non-oil company in Nigeria) was equivalent to being president of Nigeria (coincidentally, the chairman of UAC at that time, Ernest Shonekan, went on to become head of state of Nigeria many years later).

It's similar to the way that, probably in 100 years crude oil might have lost its value and people might wonder how people got wealthy from oil.

(When I wrote that members of this family were on the board of Mentholatum, it might not mean anything to people today, but Mentholatum was once the biggest brand of vapour rub in Nigeria, followed by Vicks and Robb. It's the same way that it might not mean anything to people today if you tell them that Chief Abiola once owned Berec, but Berec was once the biggest brand of batteries in Nigeria).

5) The other merchants were wealthy, but they did not manage their wealth in the same way. Dantata understood English and accounting, something that the other merchants did not understand.

However, someone on this thread has stated that Umar Sharabutu's company is still in business, but they operate mainly in Northern Nigeria.

Secondly, the other merchant's children were not able to continue the business in the way that Dantata's children did. This is similar to what has happened to the Abiola Family. In fact, there are many similar families in which their patriach was once one of the wealthiest men in Nigeria and while the children are still wealthy, they are no where near as wealthy as their patriach. Look at the Fajemirokun and Ojukwu families for example.

naptu2:
Err, there are a couple of things here.

1) They are and were heavily involved in transportation. In fact, transportation is one of the businesses that they were very famous for (multiple members of the family were very famous for that). Alhassan was a director in the Nigerian Railway Corporation, Aminu Dantata had a haulage company, Sanusi Dantata had a haulage company, Aliko Dangote had a haulage company and in fact, in the 1990s, he convinced the Central Bank (CBN) to allow him manage their transportation needs (he managed CBN's fleet of Coaster staff buses and they all had "Dan" written on them). Sayyu Dantata was once the chief executive officer of Dangote Transport and that's when he realised that he could make a lot of money from diesel because it was difficult to get diesel for their fleet). My mum used to say (a long time ago when she was still alive) that people like Aminu Dantata and Ibrahim Dasuki destroyed the Nigerian Railway Corporation so that their haulage businesses would thrive (I don't agree with her, but her theory is evidence of how popular and big Dantata and Dasuki's haulage businesses were).

2) They were also involved in telecommunications. Tajudeen Dantata was on the board of Starcomms, which was once the biggest CDMA network in Nigeria. Aliko Dangote also has investments in telecoms (through Alheri Engineering). Tajudeen Dantata was also on the board of Virgin Nigeria Airways.
[img]http://naijachronicles.files./2020/01/tajudeen2.jpg[/img]


3) They also had investments in automobiles. Aminu Dantata was once one of the biggest distributors of Mercedes Benz.

Read the posts again, you'll find references to all these businesses.


4) There are some goods that once provided huge profits, but are no longer as profitable as they once were, so the younger generation might not understand how big these things once were. There are many of them in this story. Grounduts, cocoa, etc were once Nigeria's major source of income, equivalent to the crude oil of later years. (Pinson Labulo Davies in Lagos became incredibly wealthy from cocoa around the same time and he provided the funds with which CMS Grammar School, the first secondary school in Nigeria, was built).

http://www.commodityhistories.org/research/peanuts-and-economic-dependence-french-west-africa

When I wrote that Dantata traded with UAC, it might not mean much to some, but UAC was once the biggest company in Nigeria and many of the people who are very wealthy today (the Abebes, the Murray-Bruces, etc) trace the source of their family wealth back to UAC. In 1986, a friend of mine said that being chairman of Shell (the largest oil company in Nigeria) or UAC (the largest non-oil company in Nigeria) was equivalent to being president of Nigeria (coincidentally, the chairman of UAC at that time, Ernest Shonekan, went on to become head of state of Nigeria many years later).

It's similar to the way that, probably in 100 years crude oil might have lost its value and people might wonder how people got wealthy from oil.

(When I wrote that members of this family were on the board of Mentholatum, it might not mean anything to people today, but Mentholatum was once the biggest brand of vapour rub in Nigeria, followed by Vicks and Robb. It's the same way that it might not mean anything to people today if you tell them that Chief Abiola once owned Berec, but Berec was once the biggest brand of batteries in Nigeria).

5) The other merchants were wealthy, but they did not manage their wealth in the same way. Dantata understood English and accounting, something that the other merchants did not understand.

However, someone on this thread has stated that Umar Sharabutu's company is still in business, but they operate mainly in Northern Nigeria.

Secondly, the other merchant's children were not able to continue the business in the way that Dantata's children did. This is similar to what has happened to the Abiola Family. In fact, there are many similar families in which their patriach was once one of the wealthiest men in Nigeria and while the children are still wealthy, they are no where near as wealthy as their patriach. Look at the Fajemirokun and Ojukwu families for example.

naptu2:
UAC was the largest non-oil company in Nigeria in the 1970s, ‘80s and early 1990s. The two most important business executives in Nigeria at that time were the M.D. of Shell (the largest oil company) and the Chairman of UAC (the largest non-oil company). They were almost like presidents. One of them, Chief Ernest Shonekan (Chairman of UAC in the 1980s and early 1990s) even became Head of State of Nigeria. The company was huge and (at various times) included the following subsidiaries:

1) A.J. Seward ( "for skin, hair and body care" ) : They made hair creams, body creams and lotions, face powders, soaps and other beauty products.


2) Kingsway Department Stores: They had the largest supermarket and mall chain in Nigeria.

3) Kingsway Chemists: A chain of pharmacies that was spread right across Nigeria.

4) UAC Foods: This included Kingsway Rendezvous (now known as Mr Biggs), Gala Sausage Rolls, Wall's Ice Cream, Spring Waters Nigeria Ltd (makers of SWAN Water, Gossy Water and SWAN soft drinks), etc.

5) UAC Motors: GM Nigeria (Bedford, Chevrolet and Isuzu), Federated Motors Industries Ltd (locally made Bedford trucks) and Niger Motors.

6) Bordpak Ltd (packaging).

7) Premier Packaging Ltd.

8 ) UAC Technical Ltd: Industrial machines and huge electricity generators.

9) G.B. Olivant: Trading company.

10) UAC Property Development Company: They own 1004 Estate, Golden Tulip Hotel (formerly Dubar Hotel), Abebe Court Ikoyi, etc.


11) Grand Cereals: Grand Pure Soya Oil, etc.

12) MDS Logistics: Wharehouses, haulage, distribution, etc.

13) Chemical and Allied Products Limited (CAPL) : Dulux and Caplux paints, etc.

14) African Timber and Plywood Ltd.

15) West African Cold Storage.


This company has directly or indirectly produced several very wealthy families including the Abebes, the Dantatas, the Dangotes, the Murray-Bruces and the Shonekans.



UAC has helped to nurture the fortunes of some of Nigeria's wealthiest families.

1) Dantata/Dangote: Alhassan Dantata's business got a big boost when he got contracts to supply UAC (Royal Niger Company) groundnuts, kola nuts, etc.

2) Murray-Bruce: Mulligan Murray-Bruce (Ben Bruce's father) was a UAC executive who did so well that upon retiring he was given Domino Stores to run.

3) Abebe: Sir Christopher Abebe (Stella Obasanjo's father) was Chairman of UAC (also Chairman of Nigerian Breweries) in the 1970s. He did so well, that several UAC and Nigerian Breweries facilities are named after him (Abebe Village, Igamu).


In the picture below are the logo of the Royal Niger Company, UAC's first logo and UAC's current logo (which was adopted in the 2000s). The logo in the middle is my favourite.

www.nairaland.com/attachments/6870095_1169259416510334384872907671844771556875958n_jpgf20940feb4ac0dd73a8fe48ef7f592f2

AmenhotepZuid:
Dangote is still a baby to the SOUTH AFRICAN BORN FUTURIST ELON MUSK HE WILL END 2020 AT 30 BILLION DOLLARS.

naptu2:
How do you go from being an almajiri to spawning a dynasty of billionaires that includes some of the richest people in Africa?

Well, that's exactly what Al-Hassan Dantata did. By dint of sheer hard work he went from being an Almajiri to being the wealthiest man (of any race ) in West Africa at the time of his death in the 1950s.

Below is the story of the Dantata/Dangote dynasty.


(This is an update of a thread that I created on March 12, 2012).

YourWriter:
My grandfather was one of the prominent richest elite in Ibadan in the 70s and 80s but unfortunately his heirs collapsed his business empire and squandered his wealth after his death. Awon werey!