Aliko Dangote has become the 64th richest man in the world. The Nigerian billionaire made over $5 Billion dollar in a day. The current exchanged rate of Dollar to Nigeria is a staggering sum, running into trillions of Naira. The information was released by Bloomberg. Dangote remains the richest man in Africa according to ratings by Bloomberg and Forbes in the last 8 years.
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Africa’s richest man, with his improved worth of $16.6 billion, controls Dangote Industries, a closely held conglomerate.
The Lagos, Nigeria-based company owns sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest cement producer, Dangote Cement, which had revenue of N805.6 billion naira ($2.4 billion) in 2017. It also has interests in sugar, salt, flour, fertiliser and packaged food.
It would be recalled that Dangote, was also recently named as the 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, the 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 Aliko Dangote, Tony Elumelu, Chairman of United Bank for Africa was 11th on the list and these two were the only Nigerians on that 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.
Aliko Dangote Foundation was, however, incorporated in 1994 as a charity in Lagos, Nigeria. 20 years later, the foundation 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.