(8 Empowering & Inspiring quotes & stories of ALIKO DANGOTE)
From selling sweets in Kano to honors and riches ¬– Aliko Dangote has walked a long road, an icon for African businesspeople.

ALIKO DANGOTE PERSONAL PROFILE.
Contributed and compiled by Udzungwa Mountains College Students Club of Entrepreneurship (UMCSCE) 30th April 2022 (club @umcsce.org).

LEARNING QUOTES AND LESSONS FROM ALIKO DANGOTE
“As a businessman and entrepreneur I (Aliko Dangote) want to be remembered as doing many of massive challenging things and succeeding in them but I think I would like to be remembered more in terms of doing charitable things. I (Aliko Dangote) intend to, as soon as I deliver on most of my projects. I think about how I can give most of my money back to society.’ – Aliko Dangote.

“I (Aliko Dangote) don’t know what percentage of my fortune I will give away because I have three kids and they (three kids) must try to fight me before anything happens.” – Aliko Dangote.

“When you look at Nigeria it is unfortunate that everybody is looking at oil. But Nigeria is not an oil-based country: we have more gas than oil. There is much money to be made in harnessing our potential in gas rather than in oil. Oil is just a fraction and if you look at the earnings of Nigeria in 2010 it was only $15 billion. Today I (Aliko Dangote) look at what we are going to produce and sell in cement this year; it is going to be $5 billion, so why are we asking ourselves about oil?” – Aliko Dangote.

“What I (Aliko Dangote) think is that the real issue is that people are actually underrating the economy of Nigeria. You will see the economy of Nigeria at work when we are able to deliver power. By the time we are able to deliver power I can assure you, we will have double GDP growth. Look at Kano, for example, the state where I come from, we have a small amount of power to be shared amongst its population (17-18 million). If you empower them you will see a massive difference,’- Aliko Dangote.

“It is really thin, yes. What we ought to do is to go back and look at what China has done in the last 25 to 30 years and copy that. That is what we really need to do, to improve our economy. All African countries, what they (African countries) need to do is concentrate on infrastructure then (African countries) will see a massive difference. That is what the Chinese did.” – Aliko Dangote.

“As a Nigerian, I (Aliko Dangote) will look at gas but not only to get and sell the gas because that will only make you a living. You can do a lot in petro-chemicals; you can do a lot in fertilizer and you can also diversify into agriculture. Even now with little agriculture we have, it contributes about 43% of the GDP. So you can actually turn the economy around by just looking at very few areas.” –Aliko Dangote.

“I (Aliko Dangote) went to Brazil on Business the other week. I went out to buy something and the first shop I went to was run by a Nigerian. You see, normally a Nigerian, by nature, does not work for anybody. A Nigerian will always try to do his best and work for himself. By giving Nigerians power you are going to empower them and you will be shocked by what this economy can do. It will be much more than 2000. We had only 436,000 lines and this year we have more than 96 million lines. So it is going to happen, it will come. There are so many opportunities in Africa but people outside of Africa who have the real money will not invest unless they see the locals investing in their own economy. If we don’t invest they will always believe that there is something that they cannot see that we, the locals, see; that is why we are not investing. So it is a priority. It is of top urgency for us to start investing and having confidence in our own system and economies for others to follow. Once you start investing you will see the world. We have seen it happening in our sector of cement where we started pumping a lot of money, which others who were not serious about investing are now in.” –Aliko Dangote.

“It is important for Nigerians to partner with other African brothers and sisters to make sure they show them the way and how we have negotiated our economy. When you look at our economy, 25 years back it was controlled by Indians and Lebanese. Right now, almost 90% of our economy is in our own hands and we are making it happen. A lot of companies like Heineken, Nestle, and Unilever are pumping a lot of money here because they have seen that locals are also heavily investing money in the system.” –Aliko Dangote.

ALIKO DANGOTE BACKGROUND

Aliko Dangote has walked a very long journey from trading sweets on the streets of Kano to becoming one of the richest men in Africa. Born in April 1957 in Kano state, the ancient city of Nigeria’s northern region. Aliko Dangote was destined to be a businessman. His father, Mohammed Dangote, was a successful businessman, and an associate of his maternal grandfather, Alhaji Sanusi Duntata, who was one of Nigeria’s wealthiest and most successful businessmen in pre-independence days. As is common in northern Nigeria, the large Dangote family lived cheek by jowl in one home where Dangote developed an early interest in business. At the age of eight, he (Aliko Dangote) used to give packets of sweets, he had made, to the house servants to sell for him. His uncle, Alhaji Duntata, also had a strong influence on him. After his secondary education, Aliko Dangote proceeded to Cairo’s Al-Azhar University, where he (Aliko Dangote) earned a degree in business, before returning to Nigeria to work for the family commodity trading business.

ALIKO DANGOTE FOUNDATION OF SUCCESS.

In 1977, he (Aliko Dangote) got a loan of N 500,000 ($ 3,300 from his uncle, Alhaji Duntata to start his business. The loan had to be paid back in three years but Aliko Dangote paid it off in three months by trading rice, millet, sugar, pasta, salt, and vegetable oil. Later that year, he (Aliko Dangote) moved to Lagos and expanded into manufacturing the goods he traded-in. It was here that he (Aliko Dangote) ventured into the cement business, a business that made his name. He (Aliko Dangote) now owns three major cement factories in Nigeria, including the largest in Africa – the Obajana cement factory in Kogi state, which has recently increased its capacity to 10.5 million metric tons per annum. Dangote had also commissioned a brand new $ 1 billion cement refinery in Ogun state in southwest Nigeria. The plant has a capacity of 6 million tons bringing the combined capacity of his cement factories in Nigeria to over 20 million tons per annum.

In addition to these, he (Aliko Dangote) purchased and set up a number of other cement factories across west and southern Africa, with more planned. The foundation of Dangote’s Conglomerate was established when he (Aliko Dangote) incorporated two businesses in 1981 and began building the Dangote Group. Businesses in the group include the Dangote Sugar Refinery – the largest sugar refinery in Africa, with an annual capacity of 700,000 metric tons; Dangote Flour Mills; Dangote sacks; Dansa foods; Dangote Transport; Benue cement company PLC; Blue Star Shipping; Blue Star Investments. Dangote Textiles; among others. The New cement factory means his companies now employ 22,000 workers. Dangote owns two private jets, with his latest acquisition being the Bombardier Global Express XPS Jet. In recognition of his success in creating jobs, he (Aliko Dangote) was awarded the Grand Commander of the order of the Niger. Now he (Aliko Dangote) controls about 45% of Nigeria’s cement market and has large interests in sugar, flour, and other consumables. He (Aliko Dangote) has recently set his eyes on becoming the most important cement producer across sub – Saharan Africa.

ALIKO DANGOTE PHILANTHROPIC ACTIVITIES.
Aliko Dangote is also spending more time on philanthropic activities, having launched a number of Afro-centric initiatives over the years. He (Aliko Dangote) is determined to leave as much of a mark with his philanthropic heritage as he has done in business. For example, between September and November 2011, he (Aliko Dangote) gave out more than N 1 billion ($ 6.3 million). Six hundred 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 N 500 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.