Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has significantly moved up in the world billionaires’ list as he emerged 96th richest person in the world, with an estimated worth of $14.8 billion, as against his previous ranking of 103rd in the world.
Dangote, who remains the richest man in Africa for the 8th year running, was the only Nigerian on the list of the top 100 billionaires, as released last week by Bloomberg in its yearly billionaires’ list.
Jeff Bezos remains the richest in the world with $115 billion in his kitty while Bill Gates and Bernard Arnault followed as 2nd and 3rd respectively with $111.3 billion and $105 billion. Warren Buffett was the fourth with $89.3 billion on the world billionaires’ chart.
Dangote’s estimated worth in the latest Bloomberg ranking far outstrips an earlier ranking by the Forbes Magazine, another elite publication which placed his fortune at $10.8bn in the 2019 Forbes Africa’s Billionaires’ list released in January, although he retained the rank as the richest African for the 8th consecutive year in the latter ranking.
Africa’s richest man controls Dangote Industries, a closely-held conglomerate. The Lagos-based company owns sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest cement producer, Dangote Cement, which had revenue of N901.2 billion ($2.5 billion) in 2018. It also has interests in sugar, salt, flour, fertilizer, and packaged food.
Dangote was also recently named sixth most charitable man in the world by Richtopia, a digital periodical that covers business, economics, and financial news, based in the United Kingdom. This recognition came after he endowed his foundation, Aliko Dangote Foundation (ADF), to the tune of $1.25 billion.
Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and J.K Rowlings occupied the first three positions on the World Charitable lists, while Oprah Winfrey and Elon Musk occupied the fourth and fifth positions respectively. Aside from Dangote, Tony Elumelu, Chairman of United Bank for Africa was 11th on the list.
Dangote started his foundation in 1981 with a mission to enhance opportunities for social change through strategic investments that improve health and wellbeing, promote quality education, and broaden economic empowerment opportunities.
The foundation was incorporated in 1994 in Lagos. Twenty years later, it has become the largest private foundation in sub-Saharan Africa, with the largest endowment by a single African donor. The primary focus of Aliko Dangote Foundation is health and nutrition, supported by wrap-around interventions in education, empowerment, and humanitarian relief.
