Kemi Ajumobi 
Aliko Dangote, GCON
Group President & Chief Executive, Dangote Group
Who best to start our maiden edition of ‘We’ve Got Men’ column if not the business magnate and Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote GCON, President/Chief Executive of Dangote Group, the largest conglomerate in West Africa with significant presence in 17 African countries.
It was evident that Aliko knew he was going to be a force to reckon with. After graduating from Al-Azahar University in Cairo, Egypt, he commenced his business journey in the late 70s trading in rice, sugar and cement. After a while, he went into production extensively, and like the say, the rest is history, except that Aliko constantly redefines what history embodies, and he does it in a big way.
Dangote never plays small. I mean, if owning a petroleum refinery and petrochemicals, 650,000 barrels per day (BPD) integrated refinery located in the Lekki Free Zone of Ibeju Lekki Lagos, Nigeria isn’t a massive feat, especially coming from an African, a Nigerian- specifically, I wonder what is. The gist doesn’t stop there, the refinery isn’t only Africa’s biggest oil refinery, it is the world’s biggest single-train facility. Beat that, then let’s hear you out.
Aliko has been on the list of richest Africans for a long time, but I knew that the oil refinery was going to shift things in a different way and like several Nigerians, we all counted down to its official launch. Of course it came with its challenges, even after, and that is because, realistically speaking, nothing great comes easy as most wealthy people will tell you, but one thing stands sure, they won’t quit and will ensure the result becomes evident which is exactly what Dangote did. Honestly, during that period of the process preceding the launch, the challenges were evident.
All eyes were on him and so was the pressure. But, through it all, one thing he did efficiently was carrying his daughters along on his journey. At a time when global statistics is showing that only approximately 38.1% of board seats are occupied by women, and according to Nigeria’s top 100 companies on the NGX in 2023, women occupied only 29.3% of board seats in 2023, Aliko is surely contributing to those numbers by mentoring his daughters to rise up to the occasion and take up positions of authority, not just because they are his children, but because they are academically sound for it and have been groomed for this course.
For instance, I admire how Fatima Aliko Dangote, Group Executive Director, Commercial Operations is often by his side to support, at press conferences and even during the unveiling of the first output of PMS from the refinery. Even Halima Aliko Dangote, Group Executive Director, Dangote Industries Limited, who represents him at public events and conferences, and Mariya Aliko Dangote, Executive Director, Operations for Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc, all of them, embodying their roles with confidence and grace simply because their father believed in them and gave them the opportunity rise.
So, when we say at Inspiring Woman Africa (IWA) that ‘We’ve Got Men,’ Aliko Dangote is an example of who we are talking about.