WRITTEN BY: Abbie Smith
Aliko Dangote is an African business powerhouse. Nigeria’s most successful businessman, he owns one of the largest companies in Africa, Dangote Cement. Not content with securing that accolade, he’s always looking to the future and for him that means worldwide domination.
Last year, he listed Dangote Cement on the stock market. With a market value of over $13 billion, his company alone accounts for about 25 percent of Nigeria’s Stock Exchange total market. Since 2010, his net worth has gone through the roof.
Worth a respectable $2.1 billion last year, he made the 2011 Forbes list of world billionaires after his fortune increased by 557 percent, making him now worth an eye-watering $13.8 billion. This ranks him as the second richest man in Africa and the Middle East, and the 51st richest man in the world. Not too shabby for someone who started with a small commodities trading business that he set up with money borrowed from his uncle.
Cement
Many people doubted Dangote when he started in the cement industry. After the Nigerian government decided to privatise the previously state-run Benue Cement Company (BCC), Dangote took over the failing business. Heavy investment saw him turn the company on its head, and the installed capacity of the company went from 900,000 tonnes of cement per year to three million metric tonnes a year.
Dangote’s cement empire now includes six import terminals in Ghana and Nigeria, as well as Obajana Cement in South Africa. He is also investing hundreds of millions of dollars in new cement plants in Zambia, Tanzania and others.
Broad interests
Not only interested in cement, the Dangote Group is one of the largest business conglomerates in Africa with interests in sugar, textiles, oil, salt, pasta, and gas. The crowning jewel of the Dangote Group though is undoubtedly its cement operations.
Not satisfied with operations across Africa in Nigeria, Ghana, Benin and South Africa, Dangote wants to expand as markets emerge in the Middle East and Asia. He believes that now is the time for Dangote Cement to become a global brand. His ultimate dream is that one day he’ll claim the top spot of the cement industry, beating current cement giant Lafarge.
Although his aspiration for Dangote Cement to become the world’s number one cement manufacturer is certainly ambitious, Aliko Dangote has previously laughed in the face of critics and proved that for him, anything is possible.
