Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote has joined the $30 billion club with his financial worth hitting $30 billion as of Oct. 23, a $2.16 billion gain since the beginning of the year.
Bloomberg’s Billionaires, Index and Business Insider shows that Dangote’s wealth recently grew by another $430 million, pushing him over the coveted $30 billion threshold. Just a few weeks ago, his fortune stood at $29.6 billion, and as of yesterday, he was only $200 million short of reaching that figure.
The Nigerian businssman began his business journey with the Dangote Group, a small trading firm that imported sugar, salt, and other food products. In 1981, he expanded his ventures by founding Dangote Nigeria Limited and Blue Star Services, both specializing in the importation of rice, steel, and aluminum.
He later launched Dangote Cement, which today generates roughly $3.7 billion in annual revenue. His Dangote Sugar Refinery is among the largest sugar producers in Nigeria and across the continent.
Dangote’s latest financial surge coincides with the opening of a $160 million cement facility in Attingué, Côte d’Ivoire, located roughly 30 kilometers north of Abidjan.
The sprawling 50-hectare site boasts a production capacity of three million metric tonnes annually, making it one of Dangote Cement’s largest manufacturing plants outside of Nigeria.
Aliko Dangote
Nigeria’s Dangote oil refinery, already the largest in Africa, aims to become the biggest in the world in three years’ time with an expansion doubling its capacity, its owner said on Sunday.
“We are more than doubling the barrels… to 1.4 million from 650,000,” said Aliko Dangote, a Nigerian businessman who is Africa’s richest person.
“This will make it the largest refinery” globally, surpassing India’s Jamnagar Refinery, he said.
The privately run Dangote refinery, which started operations last year, is a gamechanger for Nigeria, which previously had to import almost all its petrol despite being a major oil producer.
After years of neglect and mismanagement of public refineries, Dangote has shaken up the corruption-marred players in Nigeria and driven down prices of petrol for consumers.
“This expansion reflects our confidence in Nigeria’s future, our belief in Africa’s potential and our commitment to building energy independence for our continent,” Dangote said.
The Dangote refinery has sparked monopoly fears as it becomes a powerful player itself.
Recent moves to bring its own, natural gas-powered trucks to distribute petrol in the country in September sparked a strike by a fuel tanker drivers’ union, which accused the company of hiring new drivers on the condition they didn’t join a union.
