Who is the Richest Man in Africa? – Networth and Bio

Filed in Articles by on July 15, 2020

– Who is the Richest Man in Africa? – Networth and Bio –

Wealthy Africans is a yearly ranking of the richest African individuals, which is compiled and published by the American business magazine Forbes. In this article, I will be discussing on the richest man in Africa.

Alhaji Aliko Dangote.

Alhaji Aliko Dangote still maintains his spot as Africa’s richest man according to Forbes Magazine. The magazine disclosed that as of 2020, the 62-year-old is worth $9.1 billion.

Forbes listed him as the number one on Africa’s list of billionaires for 2020. The Kano State indigene has held the richest man tag for the past few years. He was ranked the 100th richest man in the world in the year 2018 and number 66 on the Powerful People 2018 list both released by Forbes.

Forbes put much of Dangote’s wealth to his cement business the continent’s largest producer straddling most sub-Saharan African countries.“Dangote Cement produces 44 million metric tons annually and plans to increase its output in  2020. Dangote also owns stakes in publicly-traded salt, sugar, and flour manufacturing companies,” Forbes added.

Early Life and Schooling of Dangote

Born in the year 1957, Dangote grew up in an entrepreneurial household in Kano State, Nigeria. He was raised Muslim and lived an upper-class life.

Dangote’s grandfather, Sanusi Dantata, was once named one of the wealthiest people living in Kano. He made his fortune selling commodities like oats and rice. Dantata became Dangote’s guardian in the year 1965 after the death of his father.

Having spent much of his childhood with his grandfather, Dangote quickly became interested in the world of business.

At age 21, Dangote graduated from Egypt’s Al-Azhar University, one of Islam’s prestigious universities. It was there the budding entrepreneur furthered his education in business.

Education

Dangote was first educated the Islamic way as the custom of his clan demanded, before proceeding to Capital High School in Kano to receive a formal education.

He later obtained a degree in Business Administration from Al Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt and that was all the academic backing he took to become the richest black person in the world with staggering net worth.

Business, Status & Fame

His success story has this very humbling prologue of obtaining a loan of $3,000 from his very rich grand-uncle, Alhaji Dantata to start up his business in the year 1977.

He would later move to Lagos the economic melting pot of Nigeria to officially kick off the Dangote group which was just seen then as a petite trading firm dealing in cement sales.

Through sheer diligence and enormous love for business, the Dangote group has risen to become the largest conglomerate in West Africa. Most of its business products include salt, sugar, cement, flour and most recently oil and gas and telecoms.

The Dangote group has massive business influence in Africa with branches in Togo, Ghana, Benin Republic, South Africa, Cameroun, Zambia and Tanzania with its headquarters in Nigeria.

Dangote’s net worth is projected to missile into high heavens with his recent venturing into the downstream oil sector of Nigeria.

His soon to be completed oil refinery is reputed to be the largest in Africa and is expected to employ over 30,000 Nigerians asides the 11,000 currently on his payroll.

Suffice to add that his sugar and floor refinery is the largest in Africa and third largest in the world, supplying sucrose to the bulk of carbonated and beverage drink companies in Nigeria.

He also imports thousands of metric tons of rice into Nigeria as well as exportation of cocoa and other cash crops to several developed climes of the world.

His massive influence in the Nigerian market is seen daily as his trucks ply the major highways of the broad expanse of Nigeria’s own share of the African continent on a daily basis distributing diversified products to consumers from his company.

As his business continues to diversify, the telecommunication industry is not left out as he is reportedly building 14,000 kilometers of fiber optic cables across Nigeria waiting for the launch of his telecom brand which will, of course, become a subsidiary of the Dangote group.

Personal Life

Dangote has been happily married four times with all marriages ending in divorce. His marriages have produced just 3 children for him. Dangote’s net worth is estimated at 9.1 billion USD (2020).

CSN Team

Comments are closed.

Hey Hi

Don't miss this opportunity

Enter Your Details