Billionaire industrialist Dangote bullish on Africa’s growth

Nigeria’s billionaire industrialist Aliko Dangote has said that he is optimistic about the direction of Africa’s growth, saying that all signs point to a continent that stands to transform and serve the rest of the world. “I am very excited because, going forward, the future is Africa. We have what it takes to make Africa great. That is why, I am not only putting in my own money, I am putting in my soul in Africa to make Africa great,” he told thousands of participants at the closing ceremony of the Africa CEO Forum in Kigali. Dangote, who is also the richest man in Africa, maintained that there is nothing impossible in Africa. “I normally say that Africa is like a scratch card. Unless you scratch it, you will not know what number it is,” he noted. Dangote, who’s the Chairman of Dangote Group, a manufacturing conglomerate, indicated that he deliberately ignored the capital market boom of the U.S. that led to the growth of companies such as Google and Microsoft. “We took all our money and invested in [Africa],” he said, highlighting that in the last seven years, Dangote Group has invested more than $25 billion in fertilizers, petrochemicals, refined products, and expansion of cement production. Dangote currently operates the largest oil refinery in Africa which started production in February this year. At a cost of $20 billion, the refinery will produce 650,000 barrels per day (bpd). Ridding Africa of oil imports Dangote aims to reverse Nigeria’s reliance on imports for fuel and other refined products even though the country is Africa's biggest oil producer. Dangote said the refinery had enough gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel to supply the African continent and export to Brazil. “We started producing jet fuel, we are producing diesel, by next month, we'll be producing gasoline. What that will do, it will be able to take most African crudes,” Dangote said. “Our capacity is too big for Nigeria. It will be able to supply West Africa, Central Africa and also Southern Africa,” he added, highlighting that Africa should not continue importing with its vast resources. Currently, there are only two African countries that do not import petroleum products – Algeria and Libya. “We need to really change by making sure that we just don’t go and produce raw materials, but we produce finished products and create jobs. When you export raw materials and someone keeps importing things into your continent, you are importing poverty and exporting jobs out,” he said. Dangote’s businesses have enabled him to accumulate significant wealth over the years that almost no other African has, and generated decent returns to his conglomerate. “Just about five years ago, we said we wanted to move from $5 billion revenue to $30 billion revenue, and we have made it happen,” he said amidst applause from the crowd. Dangote was speaking on the panel alongside Patrick Pouyanne, the Chief Executive Officer of French energy major, TotalEnergies. Pouyanne said he had struck its first supply deal with Dangote Refinery in Nigeria. “We met this morning, we made the first deal between both of us. The two CEOs met with our head of trading and we found a way to convince them to make a deal,” he said.

News

Billionaire industrialist Dangote bullish on Africa’s growth