Aliko Dangote: A Pan African Phenomenon at 61

Dipo Kehinde/

African richest man, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, clocks 61 today.

His story is always being told, but new chapters are added everyday. It’s a never ending story; and, if it is titled ‘The Great Oak that Grew from Small Acorn’, one wouldn’t have missed the mark because Dangote is one corporate empire builder who believes in small beginnings.

Dangote once said: “To build a successful business, you must start small and dream big. In the journey of entrepreneurship, tenacity of purpose is supreme.”

NewsmakersNG learnt that at the age of 21, Dangote took a loan of N500,000 from his uncle to import and sell agricultural commodities. He repaid the entire loan within three months. Today, he is the wealthiest black man with an estimated net worth of $17billion.

Way back in 1897, Henry Sylvester Williams established a body known as The African Association. It later metamorphosed into Pan African Association and became a philosophy propagated by Marcus Garvey, the richest black man in the 20^th Century.

Garvey advanced the Pan African philosophy to inspire economic empowerment focusing on Africa. It was known as Garveyism.

At the time the first Pan African Conference was being held in London, in July 1900, Dangote’s birth was 57 years away.

But, today, Dangote has kept the Pan African dream alive. And there won’t be any dispute if the philosophy is named Dangoteism now, because no other black man, dead or alive, has been able to integrate Africa through a formidable business empire focused on the economic emancipation of the African people.

From Nigeria to Ghana, Republic of Benin, Cameroun, Kenya, Ethiopia, Senegal, Tanzania, Liberia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, and South Africa, among others, Dangote’s business empire has no boundaries. Nobody on the continent has matched him in the creation of job and alleviation of poverty.

Little wonder, when it was time for Bloomberg to list the 50 most influential names that have had an impact on the world in 2017, at its annual gala, inside New York’s iconic Gotham Hall, Dangote was the only African on the list. He was recognized for his outstanding commitment of over $4Billion to increase Nigeria’s food production capacity.

According to the organizers, Dangote’s contribution to the world in 2017 revolved around his dynamic attention to lessen food imports into his country, Nigeria, by focusing on domestic production of sugar and dairy, with 500 million litres of Nigerian milk to be produced by 2019. He had announced a $50billion plan to invest in renewable energy and petrochemical refineries, including investments in the U.S. and Europe, says Paul Wallace in the Bloomberg’s review.

Dangote has also been busy building a refinery to handle 650,000 barrels of oil, second largest fertilizer plant in the world to produce 3 million tons to 4.3 million tons by 2020.

He is also building a gas pipeline to supply Lagos up to Ghana, and he has invested largely in agriculture including the production of rice and sugar.

Zambian Minister of Finance, Mr Felix Mutati, described Dangote as the Giant of Africa because he has kept the construction sector in Zambia and all over the continent booming by building huge cement factories and crashing cement prices everywhere.

Dangote also ensures that about 95 percent of employees in those countries are locals.

Besides Mutati, Kano State governor, Dr Umar Ganduje, has also described Dangote as the Pride of the Black Race.

Dangote has built the most diversified business conglomerates in Africa. In Nigeria, he operates the Obajana Cement Plant (OCP), the largest cement plant in sub-Saharan Africa with a capacity of 7.7m Mtpa.

In 2015 the Dangote Group launched new cement plants in Cameroon, Ethiopia, Zambia and Tanzania.

He is investing $41million into cement production in Liberia. The duration of the agreement with the Liberian government is 15 years. It will include financing, construction, development, and operation of a clinker grinding unit with cement packing and dispatch plant of 1000 tons per day, expendable to 2000 tons per day capacity, within the Freeport of Monrovia. He also added to the bargain scholarships for Liberian citizens to study in Liberia, through an investor grant of US$15,000 annually, as well as maintenance of roads leading to its Port terminal.

Dangote also opened a cement plant at Mfila, in the Republic of Congo. It has a capacity of 1.5million tpy and was built at an estimated cost of $300million. The plant has more than doubled Congolese cement production at just 2.5million tpy – in excess of national demand.

Dangote said, “The Republic of Congo will no longer need to depend on imports to bridge the gap between demand and supply.”

Today, Dangote has a total cement production capacity of 45.8million tons per annum and new production projects in development with 17.7million tons per annum additional capacity.

Dangote is planting a fertilizer manufacturing company in Malawi, and it is committing N36 billion to the implementation of its malnutrition intervention plan in Nigeria this year through a foundation he established in 1993 to support healthcare, education and economic empowerment as well as provide support to disaster victims.

The Dangote Foundation has been contributing millions of dollars annually to medical advancements, educational endowments, and humanitarian gestures among others.

Before Dangote ventured into cement production that has provided jobs for thousands in Nigeria, the country was the second largest importer of cement after the US.

Today, the tide has turned and Nigeria is now a leading exporter of 6-7million tonnes of cement after meeting local needs.

In rice production, Dangote has also created a system that supports local farmers to cultivate the crop, and later offers to buy it back. He is optimistic that soon, they will feed Nigeria and the rest of West African market. Reports say Dangote is eyeing dairy farming. Nigeria presently imports 98 percent of all the milk consumed in the country.

Dangote’s foundation has pledged to invest $100 Million in over five years to tackle malnutrition in the worst affected parts of Nigeria.

“Nigeria’s high malnutrition rate is undermining progress towards improving child health and survival and putting the brakes on economic development,” said Zouera Youssoufou, Managing Director and CEO of the Aliko Dangote Foundation.

This is how the Dangote story began:

He was born on April 10, 1957, into a wealthy family, as the great-grandson of Alhassan Dantata, who was described as the richest African at the time of his death in 1955. When he was in primary school, Dangote collected cartons of candy on loan and sold them just to make money. He was educated at the Sheikh Ali Kumasi Madrasa and Capital High School, Kano.

Dangote later obtained a bachelor’s degree in Business Studies and Administration from Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt. After his graduation, he worked for his uncle, Abdulkadir Sanusi Dantata, from whom he borrowed money to start commodity trading, cement and building materials import business in Kano in 1977. Gradually, he expanded the business and relocated to Lagos, where he began importing cars and cement needed for Nigeria’s economic expansion. He has diversified into various economic sectors producing food, building materials, and household items among others with factories scattered across Africa.

His political and business connections were on display recently at the grand week-long wedding ceremony of his daughter, Fatima and Jamil, the son of former Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Dahiru Abubakar. It was attended by Presidents from African nations and the richest men in the world, including Bill Gates.

Apart from receiving one of Nigeria’s highest awards of the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON), Dangote had bagged several local and international awards for philanthropy and entrepreneurship. He was also honoured in Congo with the award of ‘Ordue du merite Congolas’.

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