Nigerian business mogul Aliko Dangote consolidated his place as Africa’s richest man, according to Bloomberg, after finishing 2019 with $4.3 billion more in wealth.
Dangote’s fortune was boosted by familiar investments in flour, cement and sugar. He is now the world’s 96th richest person.
In the last decade overall, Dangote made almost $15 billion, according to the Bloomberg report. The period has also seen growing investments in new territories, especially oil and gas.
In 2016, Dangote’s DIL bought Twister B.V., a Dutch company that delivers high-yield solutions in natural gas processing. Twister has over the years proven successful in developing capabilities that augment production and streamline processes in gas production.
Later in December of last year, Dangote’s refinery in Nigeria took delivery of the world’s largest single crude distillation column. The column was built by engineers in China.
Dangote’s business empire cuts across almost all sectors of the Nigerian economy while his story is often regarded as the best example of the potential within Africa.
He was born into a family of wealthy traders from northern Nigeria some 62 years ago.
Dangote’s grandfather, Alhassan Dantata, traded mainly in kola nuts and groundnuts. But Dantata was also one of the wealthiest men in the British West African colonies.
