Guess what? This is how Africa’s popular billionaires made their money

Aliko Dangote — The Guardian Nigeria

Aliko Dangote

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His mother was a petty trader, now 26-year-old Bamai Namata is on Forbes Africa 30 Under 30 list

When he was young, he bought sweets, gave them to others to sell, and he kept the profits.

Africa’s richest man, with a net worth pegged at $12.2 billion started his business in 1978 with 500,000 Naira ($1,400) borrowed from his grandfather. His business flourished and hence was able to pay back the loan in about six months.

From the scratch, Dangote focused on importing soft commodities, like rice, sugar, frozen fish, and baby food into Nigeria. Now, he has expanded into the local production of cement, salt, flour as well as petroleum refining.

With investments in other African countries like Ghana, South Africa, Benin, Zambia, Togo and Tanzania, the cement and commodities tycoon may simply remain Africa’s richest man in subsequent years.