Aliko Dangote ended the year 2019 with US$4.3 billion more in assets (Bloomberg.com). This makes him the 96th richest person in the world and still the first in Africa. This follows his end of decade net worth of US$15 billion.
As he nears the completion of the one of the largest oil refineries in the world, his fortunes would be expected to shoot up significantly. He expects total group revenue to grow to about $30 billion from $4 billion when the plants start operations in the next 2 years.
The plant’s capacity is more than enough to meet Nigeria’s entire fuel consumption. The refinery also has the capacity to end importation of oil into Africa.
Biggest Cement Producer
He intends to clutch on to the tag of the ‘biggest cement producer’ with his expansion drive that will see him expand cement capacity in Africa by 29% to 62 million tons. The expansion is targeted to the local Nigerian market where he plans to add six million tons next year, taking volume in Dangote Cement Plc’s home market to 35 million tons. Other expansion drives are targeted to other West African countries.
So far Dangote cement produces in about 14 countries in Africa and plans to introduce the other commodities that drive his empire. The other products that have helped beef up his fortunes include sugar, flour and oil. He recently made a statement in business summit of expanding his sugar business to Ghana. According to him Ghana would grow its sugar for the first time. His passion to take the African market in a consolidated form is very tangible.
Dangote in Ghana
Dangote Cement has operated in Ghana since 2011, importing and bagging bulk cement at its terminal in Tema and selling into the domestic market. It was recently upgraded to handle up to 1.5Mta of bulk cement per year and we have begun importation of cement from our factories in Nigeria to reduce our need for cement imported from outside the ECOWAS region. He competes mainly against the local GHACEM and others like Diamond and CIMAF.
