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| Thursday, 16 May 2013 00:00 |
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SIX years ago, Mr Aliko Dangote paid a visit to Tanzania, on Africa’s eastern coast, and shared his dream of having an African-run business empire that would manufacture products all over the continent. To assorted government and business leaders, he announced that he was prepared to make an investment of US$600 million to build a cement factory in southern Tanzania, alleviating the shortage in that country’s domestic cement supply. The Tanzanians were sceptical. “They didn’t believe us at all. They thought I was one of these ‘Nigerian 4 — 1 — 9’ scammers who try to go and scheme people out of their money,” Mr Dangote says. “Or just one of these clever Nigerians who would come and be lying to them.” The Tanzania story is clearly one Mr Dangote relishes telling — not least because of how it’s turning out. Not long after his visit, his name appeared on a list of the world’s wealthiest people, and the Tanzanians realised they had been negotiating with Africa’s richest man. As founder and chairman of Dangote Group, the 56-year-old billionaire is worth an estimated US$16,3 billion, according to the Bloomberg Index. Forbes magazine ranks him as the 43th richest person in the world, probably making him the wealthiest black business person in the world. “They pieced the two together,” Mr Dangote says, sitting in his expansive Lagos office in late January. The room is so gigantic. It appears nearly empty, even with tall plants, a conference table and a large screen television. The Nigerian tycoon retained his position as Africa’s richest man for the third year in a row. The past year has been eventful for Mr Dangote. In October, he sold off a controlling stake in his flour milling company to Tiger Brands of South Africa. He pocketed US$190 million in cash. In February, his Dangote Sugar Refineries acquired a 95 percent stake in Nigerian sugar producer Savannah Sugar in a bid to maintain its dominant position in the Nigerian sugar industry. Mr Dangote stepped up his philanthropy in the past year, giving over US$100 million to causes ranging from education to health, flood relief, poverty alleviation and the arts. He also acquired a yacht, which he named after his mother, Amiya. Mr Dangote started building his fortune more at the age of 21 when he began trading in commodities like cement, flour and sugar with a loan he got from his maternal uncle. He delved into full production of these items in the early 2000s and went on to build the Dangote Group, West Africa’s largest publicly listed conglomerate, which now owns sugar refineries, salt processing facilities and Dangote Cement, the continent’s largest cement producer which employs 26 000. The company is constructing cement plants in Ethiopia, Zambia, South Africa, Senegal, Cameroon, the Republic of Congo, and several other African countries. He intends to build more plants in Iraq and Burma. Mr Dangote plans to sell a 20 percent interest in his cement business on the London Stock Exchange by the end of 2014, pricing it at a value of about US$35 billion to about US$40 billion. If he succeeds, his company will be the world’s most valuable cement producer. 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. The Nigerian sugar refinery, located at the port of Lagos, is the second largest in the world. Dangote Group has moved from being a trading company to Nigeria’s largest industrial group, including Dangote Sugar Refinery (the most capitalised 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. He plans to build a US$8 billion oil refinery facility that would process 450 000 barrels per day of petroleum mainly for domestic consumption. Despite being one of the world’s top oil producers, Nigeria does not refine its own oil. Mr Dangote holds a business degree from Egypt’s Al Azhar University in 1977. A fitness buff, Mr Dangote jogs everyday. — Business Reporter/Forbes/Bloomberg |
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