In Aliko Dangote’s new book, Dangote’s Ten Commandements on Money: Lessons on How to Make Money from one of the World’s Richest Men, Nigeria’s richest man pays a visit to Kings College, Lagos. While there, signing autographs for a crowd of students, he notices a quiet 12-year-old student called Mike. In a manner reminiscent of Jesus selecting his disciples, Dangote reaches out to the boy and decides to mentor him. Young Mike spends the next four years combining school with keeping up with Dangote’s punishing cross-continental schedule, taking lectures from the billionaire, based on the ten commandments of the book.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft wp-image-599 size-medium" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/136731838-194x300.jpg" alt="" width="194" height="300" />
That tale, albeit pure fiction, is an attempt to illustrate something that lies at the core of Dangote’s personality: his strikingly unassuming and down-to-earth nature; as well as his commitment to bettering others.
Those privileged enough to meet Dangote like to trade stories of his self-effacing manner: the billionaire walking unaccompanied from his jet into Abuja Airport’s arrival hall or mingling at the exclusive Ikoyi Club in Lagos.
Dangote is something of a folk hero among the powerful of Nigeria. At a recent event in Lagos, a federal minister spoke in awe of the billionaire; describing Dangote as a man who, if woken in the middle of the night, would effortlessly reel off numbers pertaining to his numerous businesses. The lesson there—this is a man not too big for the boring details of his businesses.
For a man who runs such a large empire, there is no hint of a harried existence. Newspaper and internet images reflect a man with a shy smile, framed by a trimmed salt-and-pepper beard. More often than not, he is dressed in a suit; a rarity among Nigeria’s billionaire-entrepreneur class, who generally tend to favor national dress over the colonial look. He keeps his family life very private.
Dangote is a football lover, a long-time Arsenal supporter. In 2010, it was whispered that he was considering buying a stake in the London club, but Dangote denied this.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft size-large wp-image-601" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Governor-Amosuns-visit-to-Ibese-Cement-Plant-1024x687.jpg" alt="" width="474" height="318" />
It is tempting to believe that his acquisition, in 2010, of a $45 million Bombardier jet to celebrate his 53rd birthday was less an act of ostentation, more a desire to make his frequent long-haul flights more comfortable.
No doubt, beneath the calm, almost carefree, exterior is a restlessness that drives a relentlessly expansionary business instinct. He has, within the last few years, built the two largest cement plants in Nigeria and is at the moment on a continent-conquering factory construction spree.
Another interest is philanthropy; Dangote is often in the news for doling out sometimes mind-boggling sums of money to governments and charitable causes across Nigeria.
Between September and November 2011 he gave out more than N1 billion ($6.3 million). Six hundred million naira ($4 million) of this went, via the Dangote Foundation, to Nigeria’s north-central state of Kano for its Women Empowerment and Free School Feeding program. Another N500 million went to beneficiaries in at least five states drawn from across Nigeria. In 2011 the Dangote Group donated $6 million to Nigerian universities, as part of its corporate social responsibility initiative.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft size-large wp-image-602" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Ibese-Cement-Plant-1024x688.jpg" alt="" width="474" height="318" />
He has a knack for building close, intensely beneficial relationships with governments, and the ruling party, yet generally stays away from frontline politics. His closeness to former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo brought many benefits his way, including an honor. Dangote stirs up heated debate in Nigeria. To some, he is a cold-blooded capitalist and ruthless monopolist. To others, including most who work on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, he is the best thing ever to happen to the country’s economy. US diplomatic cables, released by Wikileaks, describe him as having “taken on the aura of an economic folk hero for some, villain for others.”
What everyone agrees on is how significant he is to the Nigerian economy. His cement company single-handedly accounts for a third of Nigeria’s stock market capitalization. Last September, Dangote’s name came up in a statement President Goodluck Jonathan made; one that would become famous.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft size-large wp-image-600" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Dagonte-Photos-2-1024x672.jpg" alt="" width="474" height="311" />
“Aliko Dangote told me that by December 2012, we would be exporting cement here. I am quoting him,” the president said, on national television.
Nigerians on social networking sites quickly adopted “Aliko Dangote told me…” as a catchphrase.
In reality Dangote is a man of few words and has little time for flamboyance but when he does speak, we would be foolish not to listen.

The Economic Folk Hero Behind A Shy Smile

<h3>ALIKO DANGOTE</h3>
<div id="attachment_224" style="width: 210px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-224" class="size-medium wp-image-224" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/DSC_7510-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" />Aliko Dangote</div>
<h3>Founder and president of Dangote Group</h3>
As Africa’s richest man and business warrior, Aliko Dangote traverses the world leaving little time for interviews. He recently brought himself a $45 million Bombardier jet to save time. In May, Dangote was in China to sign a deal with Sinoma International Engineering Company. This deal means 10 new cement plants across the African continent, at an estimated cost of $3.9 billion, in just over three years’ time.
In this rare encounter, at the Transcor Hilton in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, he appeared relaxed, passionate about Africa, as well as pleased to be nominated as a Person of the Year by FORBES AFRICA.
“I feel great about it. I consider the recognition an honour and appreciation of what we are trying to do in the private sector. One thing people usually don’t understand is that what the Dangote Group is trying to achieve is something that our political leaders have failed to achieve in terms of reaching Africa economically. We are now in 14 African countries and wherever there’s an opportunity on the continent, we are very keen to explore it,” he says.
These are busy times for the Dangote Group, next year it plans to move into petrochemicals.
“It’s really a green area in Nigeria but we believe it’s an opportunity provided by the country’s endowment of gas,” he says.
“In our cement business, we are expanding massively on the continent, looking to raise our annual production capacity on the continent to about 60 million metric tons. Our target is to be number one in terms of profitability. In terms of agriculture, we have a sugar refinery where we process imported raw sugar, but we are looking at backward integration that will lead to the employment of 50,000 Nigerians. Going forward, from 2012 to 2015 we intend to invest $7 billion in Africa.”
It is the fruit of decades of risk taking that began with his cement plant back in Obajana, in Kogi State, 220km south west of where we are sitting. Dangote took the risk and invested in a five million tons plant – at a time when the entire Nigerian production was a mere 1.2 million tons.
“We saw the growth potential of the market and took the risk betting that the more we produce, the more the demand. I recall that my late friend and former CEO of Guarentee Trust Bank, Tayo Aderinokun, said that I was taking a big risk, but I believed that it will pay off. Today, Dangote Cement alone has a production capacity of 20 million tons and the rest of the market has eight million tons and we are starting another project to add a fresh 9 million tons in the next 60 days,” he says.
The impact of the Dangote Group has also been felt in the Lagos Stock Market. Last October, the group listed on an exchange erstwhile dominated by the banks. Dangote Cement is now one of the largest capitalized companies on the bourse, accounting for a quarter of the stock market.
Dangote believes passionately this is the time for Africa.
“I personally think there will be another recession because Europe will not be able to handle Greece and Italy at the same time. But Africa has the advantage of high growth rates on low debt. It’s the reverse in Europe. As a result, I think it’s only a matter of time for more investors to shift focus to Africa, which is more profitable. Money has no color and so investors will be attracted more to this continent because of its potential. If Lafarge of Blue Circle were more aggressive about investing in Africa in the past, Dangote would not have grown to this level because they could have blocked that opportunity with the cash and scale they have. Today, our Nigerian operation alone is a $14 billion business that we never dreamt would happen,” he says.
Dangote inspires many entrepreneurs in Africa, we ask whether there are many other investors like him in the continent.
“There are people that have cash but not heart and guts. They know the potential, but think of the headaches. But the truth is that nothing is easy in life. I think there can be even bigger companies than Dangote. It’s all about guts. Ten years ago, it was difficult to imagine our company achieving a valuation of $1 billion… I never in my wildest dreams at the beginning thought I would achieve 1% of what we’ve achieved. Nothing is impossible,” he says.
&nbsp;
&nbsp;

Tag: Aliko Dangote

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA

The Economic Folk Hero Behind A Shy Smile

If you want to be rich in Africa the time is now