Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote revealed he somehow had to pinch himself to see if he was dreaming after making his first millions as a businessman.
Speaking at the 2019 Mo Ibrahim Foundation’s Governance Week celebrations in Abidjan, Dangote, in a one-on-one session with Sudanese businessman Mo Ibrahim disclosed he once went to a bank to withdraw $10 million just to convince himself he was rich.
The topic came up after Ibrahim asked him what he did after reaching the milestone of making his first million or five million.
Dangote, who also disclosed he does not look at the money he has in his account said: “You know the way it is that when you first start business your target is to make your first million, okay, fine, I did that.
“But you know, after (you know) a year or so, I realised that look, I have much more than 12, 13 billion. You know, and I said okay, fine, all these numbers are just written numbers.
“One day I went to a bank, you know, at that time there were no restrictions (on withdrawals) and I wrote a cheque and cashed 10 million dollars and I took it home for myself.
“I put it in the boot of my vehicle and I went home, and I opened it and I looked at 10 million and I said that ‘okay fine. Now I believe that I have money,’” he said while laughing.
He added that he took the money back to the bank the next day after managing to finally “convince” himself.
Asked if he had any money in his wallet at the event, Dangote surprisingly said no.
“You’ll be very very surprised, I don’t even have, not even a dollar, nothing,” he said.
Ibrahim jokingly told the audience: “That’s money for you guys, when you have money, you don’t carry money.”
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