Aliko Dangote net worth rose by $4.3 billion in 2019 on the back of investments in cement, flour, and sugar.
This is in spite of the huge investment in the oil refinery located in Lagos.
The 62-year-old Nigerian businessman ended the decade with a net worth of almost $15 billion, making him the 96th wealthiest man in the world and the 1st in Africa.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, the philanthropist who was born into a wealthy Muslim family of traders in the North incorporated his own business selling cement at 21.before shifting to manufacturing building material in the 1990s.
Dangote has also benefitted from favourable government policies, which, among other things, have reduced his need for imports.
Although, his critics still accuse him of taking advantage of his closeness to the government to gain an unfair market advantage, his conglomerate, Dangote Industries, includes the biggest cement company on the continent, Dangote Cement Plc.
“That’s one of four publicly traded companies under the Dangote umbrella that account for more than a fifth of the value of the Nigerian stock exchange. The year 2020 could be a significant one for the billionaire, who is close to completing one of the world’s largest oil refineries in Nigeria.
“The plant has the capacity to meet more than Nigeria’s entire fuel consumption and could transform an economy that currently imports all its refined product needs. Dangote is also constructing a fertilizer factory on the same site,” the report said.
