For days, I had imagined what a wealthy man looks like on closer examination. What does he say? How does he think? Where do they go to? Who do they hang out with? What does he wear and how does he wear them? How does he make money? Is he ever sad? Does he carry money around? What would his children look like? How does he greet the president? How does he relate with his children, friends and family? I allowed my mind rudder aimlessly and sometimes below the rational thinking frequency just to be sure that I had it prepared for a meeting with the only Nigerian worth $11.2 billion USD. By the time the taxi dropped me off opposite the World Bank office in Asokoro, it was with a swag that I sauntered to the gate indicating my purpose for the visit. I was almost running late and my pace was swift. When eventually I opened the door enclosing the conference room, I did not see Alhaji Aliko Dangote; instead, it was a medley of young people all looking well kempt, fraternizing while waiting to dialogue with the 1957 Kano born business tycoon. I quickly settled in, sank on the swivel seat and joined in the socialization with a couple of friends and acquaintance in the room. ‘I was just informed by Dele, that Alhaji Dangote would be with us shortly, he’s being delayed at the Villa’, Rotimi Olawale, the coordinator of the World Bank Youth Forum announced. Now, I had one of my questions answered; even in his absence. I know where wealthy people hang out – with the president! It was a good way to start the afternoon.
About 20 minutes later, the wooden door opened gently and there before our very eyes was the maternal grandson of the legendary Alhassan Dantata. The one who with N500,000 from his Uncle had come of his own and raced on the back of the several business opportunities in the country to build what is now The Dangote Group with interests in Flour, Salt, Sugar, Cement and freight. The then 21 year old who started business also has major investments in real estates, transport, textile, food condiments and export of agricultural products. He is clearly a trail blazer on several fronts. The Dangote Sugar Refinery is the largest in Africa and the third largest in the world producing 800,000 tonnes of refined sugar annually. The group is also today the largest producer of Polypropylene bags in the world.
So this is it I said to myself. We all quietly stood and acknowledged his now overwhelming presence by hitting our palms together at regular and irregular intervals. The meeting started with the coordinator introducing the essence and giving a brief overview of the WBYF’s activities. Next was the Country representative of the World Bank, Marie-Francoise Marie-Nelly who also remarked on what the meeting was hoping to achieve. We took turns to introduce ourselves; it was a very heterogeneous group of young people – young business men, media practitioners, a farmer, social advocates, corps members, publishers and writers were all represented in the room. Also present were some staff of the World Bank. The mogul also insisted on introducing himself – ‘My name is Aliko Dangote and I work for Dangote Group’, expectedly this brief introduction generated hearty reactions from us. The mood was set for Dangote to recount his success story to eager ears. ‘Nothing is impossible’ is a message plate permanently on his table and that he told us is a philosophy he dearly believes in. ‘Coming from Nigeria is a gift. This country is blessed’, he retorted promptly. He however further illustrated that if you have a recharge card, you will need to scratch to get the value of what you paid for. That, to him was the Nigerian case. We are yet to scratch the surface. Aliko is passionate about building standards, maintaining integrity and honesty. With his glasses rested on the bridge of his nose, Aliko continued to reel off with an air of grandeur his business statistics and figures for about 2 hours on the afternoon of November 1st, 2012. It was effortless.
Until 1997 his companies did not own any factory. His cement business at certain point was about to be sold to Lafarge, one of the major competitors in the industry. By providence, he refused to sell the 51% they were asking for. One and a half years later, Dangote Cement already had 30% share of the market. Dangote believes his organization could be successful without dealing in oil. ‘We also wanted to proof that’, he said after a sip of water Nigerians can be well off without the Oil business. ‘Our attempt to get into the oil and gas sector also foiled by the Federal Government . You remember our bid for the Kaduna and Port Harcourt refinery? In business, you win some, you lose some’, he uttered. He still believes the Government is making a mistake on the management of its oil refineries. ‘Subsidy does not work; even in Europe, people try to cheat. It’s money for the boys’, the 76th richest man in the world said. Dangote Cement is today the second largest producer of cement in Africa after Egypt. The cement factory of the group is however the largest in Africa. The business did not borrow any money until 2000 even though it started in 1978 after he came to Lagos in December 1977 and the big break into Nigerian business sectors did not come until 1997.
A couple of tips followed shortly. ‘Do not be extravagant as a business man. Try to heavily reinvest your profit. One of the biggest problems is that business people do engage in business forecast and tend to spend their dreams. In business, anything can happen despite accurate projections. The best strategy is to diversify with your profit. Our profit from the cement business was what was used to set up the Sugar Refinery. When you are in debt, you are under pressure. Massively invest when the times are good. At some point when we borrowed, it was on a 42% interest rate’, the business mogul explained. Another strong tip he offered was the need for thorough knowledge of one’s business. ‘Any business you can’t explain when woken up , should not be ventured into . There is no aspect of my business that I can’t explain to you. Even when you have the best managers, it is good you are versed in it because the buck stops on your table’, he further offered.
The first citizen to be conferred with the highest presidential honorary title in Nigeria, the GCON believes that each time you import raw materials, you are exporting jobs. The sugar refinery was at the instance of Coca-Cola given their huge import of sugar. ‘Calculated risk is what we take’, he warned. From 2003 to 2007 the different interests of the organization was restructured. ‘The Sugar IPO was one of the most successful. We wanted 18.6 billion dollars and instead got 90.8 billion dollars. Get the right talent, take decisions with people around you, let them challenge you and let them be truthful to you’, he harped on. Thought I caught someone dozing at the point! For a million dollars, I am not sure I would blink in Dangote’s presence except he promises that in exchange for a startup capital! By this time, he had said too many deep things. They were like nuggets. They were like dynamite; small but powerful. ‘When we tried to buy Benue Cement Plant, the government then wanted expatriate companies instead. We were on it for 46 months. Today at 5 million tonnes, we are well past the government projection of 1.8 million tonnes and we have been selling cement at the same price for years now’, he informed us.
Aliko believes that the market for Nigerians is not 170 million people but the entire 300 million people along the West African coast. At some point, the Central Bank of Nigeria stopped him from buying foreign exchange for about 3 months because he was buying a lot of forex. ‘Give me more money for the machineries or give me money for finished goods was his theory around the debacle. Aliko continues to invest strategically in Africa, going to see places where raw materials are and how he can harness them. Already he has investments in Cameroun, Ghana, South Africa and Zambia.
Dangote Group has 5000 vehicles on the Nigerian road and another 1,500 would arrive by month end. I had waited for this part hoping to ask him about the controversial call for 2000 graduate drivers in August this year, in case he leaves it out. I guess he knew we wanted answers already. According to him, 13,000 applications were received comprising those of 6 PhD holders, 65 MBAs, 649 Masters Degree holders, 8460 Bsc holders and other Higher Diploma holders making up the figure. ‘The idea is to have them eventually become the truck owners. They earn salaries and trip allowances and after covering 300,000 km an estimate of journeying Lagos to Kano 140 times, the truck becomes theirs. Revenue from a trip is put at N300,000. One of our best drivers is a lady who has built a house from the proceeds, sent the parents on Hajj and her siblings to school’, he revealed. It was a shocking revelation.
‘We are also building the Dangote Academy. It is planned to be a centre of excellence for corporate leadership skills of the organization. We plan to triple intake next year and bring the figures up to 1,300,’ he said. On the philanthropic front, he also seems to be bestriding the terrain having provided well over 840 million as grants and reinvestible loan to male farmers and women traders in the north and southern part of the country. In his portfolio now is the plan to increase his investment in agriculture. He believes that is what can employ a lot of people. He also plans to be a net exporter of fertilizer in 3 years time. A plant worth 1.8 billion USD is already underway in Edo state. He’s presently planning 72 hectares for Sugarcane plantation while targeting 150 hectares and 52 ha for rice farming and to add 48 ha later. ‘Farming is not cheap. Food is not cheap especially with the population growth projection’, he enthused. According to a US based Population Reference Bureau, PRB, report on Nigeria, the Washington based agency, revealed in its 2011 World Population Data Sheet that the country’s population would be 433 million by 2050. ‘We have no idea of how blessed we are. If we knew we would be happy and behave better. Two of the biggest rivers in Africa are here. God has settled us. You cannot make money elsewhere like you would in Africa’, the GCON advised. From the strategic visioning he commissioned foremost international consulting firm Mckinsy to research into, the least option in the report shows that the group can be worth 75 billion USD in 5 years if it concentrates only on cement, sugar and salt mining and production. By 2017, Dangote hopes the group would become one of the top 80 companies in the world.
I am several feet off the ground enroute Lagos and thinking – Dangote simply transformed a trading company to an industrial group even though he warned us that the fairy tale he seems to have told was not that plain. Twice he retorted that Nothing is impossible. I remember I was almost missing the meeting to catch another engagement. My take is that he’s obviously knowledgeable about enterprises and how they should work. The Mentor’s dialogue forum ended with a group photograph with him and promise of having us at the Obajana Cement Plant. He may not have a PhD in Business Management but his knowledge would make a PhD holder green with envy.
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‘Sola Fagorusi is a youth development advocate, freelance writer, accomplished debater cum coach. The Obafemi Awolowo University graduate has about 10 years experience in social entrepreneurship which straddles leadership, good governance cum anti-corruption and adolescent reproductive health. The Leap Africa alumnus is also a trained peer educator, a DESPLAY alumnus and co-facilitator. For 2 years now, he has been a technical consultant and lead judge on the Intra-Faith Peace Youth TV Debate Project facilitated by Youngstars Foundation and the British High Commission. He has anchored television and radio programmes in Kaduna, Lagos and Port-Harcourt. He recently won the Cleantech Poland International Essay Contest. ‘Sola blogs at www.kadunaboy.com and is in line for a Masters degree in development communication.
