Africa’s richest man and president of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has revealed that he would rather be remembered for helping to industrialise Africa than for the size of his fortune, suggesting that his actual wealth may be significantly higher than estimates by global wealth trackers.
Dangote made the remarks during a street interview with James Dumoulin, founder of the School of Hard Knocks platform, where he posts his interactions with dollar millionaires and billionaires.
During the brief interaction, Dangote reflected on his business legacy, wealth and the future of some of the group’s biggest investments.
In the interview, he also appeared to dismiss estimates placing his fortune at about $38 billion, arguing that some of his most valuable assets remain privately held and are yet to be fully reflected in public valuations.
Asked how he would like to be remembered, the Nigerian billionaire said, “I have actually passed the state of just doing business to make money; I want to leave a legacy. I want to be remembered as somebody who has industrialised Africa,” he stated.
Dangote, whose business empire spans cement, sugar, salt, fertiliser and petroleum refining, stressed that building industries capable of transforming African economies was more important to him than rankings on global rich lists.
The industrialist expressed doubts about the current estimates of his net worth when asked how much he was worth, hinting that although he does not wake up to calculate how much his financial value is, it could be more than current estimates.
“What are they saying? I don’t really look at those things. They say I’m worth $38 billion, but most of our businesses are not listed yet,” Dangote said, adding that the full value of his holdings would become clearer in the future.
“It will come out soon,” he stated, hinting that upcoming public listings of some of the group’s major assets could substantially alter perceptions of his wealth.
On why anybody should invest in Africa, Dangote described the continent as the future, stressing that today, 70 per cent of the population is under 30, with a total projected count of 2.5 billion by 2050. “The real future is Africa,” he maintained.
According to the latest estimates, Dangote’s net worth stands at about $31.6 billion on Forbes’ real-time billionaires list and roughly $36.5 billion on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, as reported by THISDAY last week.
However, a significant portion of the uncertainty surrounding his fortune stems from the fact that some of the group’s most valuable assets, including the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and the fertiliser business, are privately held and therefore not subject to continuous market valuation.
During the interview, Dangote also disclosed that his companies generated about $10 billion in the first quarter of the year when asked about the highest amount of money he had made within a specific period.
The billionaire’s comments come amid growing expectations that the Dangote Petroleum Refinery could eventually be listed on the stock market. Dangote had previously indicated plans to sell a stake in the refinery through an initial public offering, a move analysts believe could become one of the largest capital market transactions in Africa’s history.
A future listing is expected to significantly boost the market valuation of Dangote’s businesses and potentially validate his assertion that his wealth exceeds current estimates by global ranking agencies.
In terms of his faith, Dangote reiterated his belief in the existence of God, explaining how he was convinced that there’s a higher being. “If I look at myself, I know that God is real,” he stated.
Packaged by Dare Raji
