Business & Enterprise
Landmark
Aliko Dangote
born 1957
Africa's richest person, and the continent's largest cement producer
Landmark is level 2 of 4 in the Nigeria Hall of Fame: a first that opened a door, or the pre-eminent figure of their generation in this country. See how the levels work.
Why they are here
He built Dangote Cement into the largest cement producer in Africa and became the richest person on the continent — a fortune made in manufacturing rather than in oil.
Aliko Dangote was born in Kano into a trading family; his great-grandfather Alhassan Dantata was reckoned the wealthiest man in West Africa in the colonial period. He started in 1977 with a loan from an uncle, trading cement, sugar and commodities, and then made the decision that separates him from most large African fortunes: he stopped importing and started manufacturing.
Dangote Cement is now the largest cement producer on the continent, with plants in around ten African countries, and the group also dominates sugar refining, flour and salt in Nigeria. He has been the richest person in Africa for well over a decade.
The biggest single undertaking is the refinery at Lekki outside Lagos, built at a cost usually given as around nineteen billion dollars and designed to process six hundred and fifty thousand barrels of crude a day — the largest single-train refinery in the world. Nigeria is a major oil producer that had for decades imported almost all of its refined fuel because its state refineries barely functioned; the plant began production in 2024 and is the most consequential industrial project the country has attempted.
Dangote Cement is now the largest cement producer on the continent, with plants in around ten African countries, and the group also dominates sugar refining, flour and salt in Nigeria. He has been the richest person in Africa for well over a decade.
The biggest single undertaking is the refinery at Lekki outside Lagos, built at a cost usually given as around nineteen billion dollars and designed to process six hundred and fifty thousand barrels of crude a day — the largest single-train refinery in the world. Nigeria is a major oil producer that had for decades imported almost all of its refined fuel because its state refineries barely functioned; the plant began production in 2024 and is the most consequential industrial project the country has attempted.
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