How investing in Africa made this man 7 Times Richer than Oprah Winfrey

Alhaji Aliko Dangote is one of the richest men in the world. He is currently worth $20.8 billion dollars and is the richest man in all of Africa. Here are a few facts about Dangote that you may find intriguing:

1) Dangote lives in Nigeria and is the owner of the Dangote Group, with interests in commodities operations in several countries, including Benin, Cameroon, Togo, and South Africa.

2) He was born in a wealthy family, but was also pushed to be an entrepreneur at an early age. “I can remember when I was in primary school, I would go and buy cartons of sweets [sugar boxes] and I would start selling them just to make money. I was so interested in business, even at that time.”

3) He started his first major company at the age of 21 after receiving a loan from his uncle.

4) The Dangote Group now dominates the sugar market and refinery business and is the main supplier of sugar to soft drink companies in Africa. They also have significant investments in salt factors, flour mills, real estate, banking, etc. He employs over 11,000 people.

5) He is deeply committed to investing in his home country of Nigeria. “Let me tell you this and I want to really emphasize it…nothing is going to help Nigeria like Nigerians bringing back their money. If you give me $5 billion today, I will invest everything here in Nigeria. Let us put our heads together and work.”

6) Dangote’s personal wealth rose by an astonishing $9.2 billion during the year 2013. This now makes him the 30th richest person on earth. He has roughly 7.5 times more wealth than Oprah Winfrey

Financial Juneteenth lessons from this article:

1) Having an entrepreneurial spirit is the key to building your wealth. Although Dangote had more advantages growing up than most Africans, it was his entrepreneurial spirit that allowed him to turn a small fortune into one of the largest fortunes in the world. Had he simply settled for working for his parents, he wouldn’t be worth 1/100th of what he is worth right now.

2) There is value to keeping your money at home. Dangote’s love for his home country is Nigeria makes him an even greater asset to the nation than his wealth. Rather than seeking out every investment opportunity available, he professes to having a commitment to building wealth and power for all of Nigeria. This can be compared to some celebrities or business owners like Jay-Z or Michael Jordan, who are accused of getting rich by taking money from the hands of black people without creating many jobs for them.

3) Africa is a hot spot for 21st century investment. China understands how resource rich the continent of Africa is and how this is going to play a crucial role in the development of the global economic landscape over the next 100 years. African investments are less expensive than most and have tremendous upside. This is the location of the next investment gold rush, and Dangote knows it.