Dangote: I never inherited wealth from my father
Dangote: I never inherited wealth from my father
Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has revealed that he did not depend on inherited wealth to establish his business empire, stressing that his fortune was built entirely from the ground up.
In an interview first published by Bloomberg on January 8, 2020, and recently resurfaced online, the billionaire industrialist reflected on his roots, noting that his late great-grandfather was considered the richest man in West Africa during the 1940s, while his grandfather was also among Nigeria’s wealthiest figures.
“The family name is Dantata—that’s from my mother’s side,” Dangote explained.
He further disclosed that although his father was “fairly wealthy” through business and politics, he made a conscious decision not to rely on any inherited assets.
“One thing that I’m very, very proud of is that I did not inherit any money from my father. I built everything from scratch to where I am.
“Whatever I inherited from him, which means in assets, I gave that on to charity since then,” he explained.
Dangote recalled how he began his career working briefly with his uncle before moving to Lagos, where he started buying and selling cement.
“It started as a very modest venture. The truth is, when you talk about cement, you’re talking about the foundation of infrastructure—and Africa has a huge infrastructure gap,” he explained.
Dangote pointed out that Nigeria alone has a housing shortfall of about 17,000 units, a problem reflected across the continent. This, he said, was a major reason behind his decision to invest substantially in cement production, which at the time was largely dependent on imports.
“When we entered the cement sector in Nigeria, we discovered that most of the supply was imported, and that’s what drove us to step in,” Dangote noted.
Today, he is the founder of the Dangote Group, one of Africa’s largest conglomerates, with over 15 subsidiaries spread across at least 10 countries. The group operates in critical sectors that fuel the continent’s growth.
Its publicly traded companies include Dangote Cement Plc, Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc, and NASCON Allied Industries Plc, while other major investments cover oil refining, fertilizer production, petrochemicals, steel, transport, logistics, and real estate.
