Aliko Dangote

Aliko Dangote

Net Worth: $2.5 billion

Most of Nigeria’s richest men, be they generals, politicians or businessmen, have made their money either directly or indirectly from oil – which accounts for more than 90% of the country’s hard currency earnings.

Aliko Dangote stands out for having amassed a fortune from humbler fare. Arguably Africa’s richest man, and certainly its wealthiest industrialist, his career began when he secured a licence to import cement three decades ago.

The son of a well-off family from the predominantly Muslim north, he cultivated ties with military regimes that ruled between 1985 and 1999. But it was the civilian presidency of Olusegun Obasanjo between 1999 and 2007 that marked the golden age of his Dangote Conglomerate, which dominates the supply of a wide range of staple products – from cement to sugar.

Dangote built up a leading position as an importer in these markets, before investing in manufacturing. Along the way he has become the biggest private-sector employer in Nigeria. Based on his public holdings, some financiers estimate that his personal wealth is three times the $3.3bn fortune Forbes magazine ascribed to him in 2008 (Forbes estimates Dangote’s 2009 net worth is $2.5bn).

“What I admire about him is that he has the guts to build an industrial base in Nigeria,” says Roelof Horne, Africa Fund Manager at Investec Asset Management. “The rest of the economy is based on importing goods.” Ambitious plans to extend his reach across the continent – and increase total cement production of his group to 50m tonnes by 2012 – have been scaled down as a result of the global downturn.

Dangote is unapologetic about the close relations he has cultivated with successive military and civilian administrations. Anyone prepared to risk the kind of money he has in an environment where policy-makers can prove so fickle is compelled to seek influence over policy, he argues.

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Source(s): Financial Times