Billionaire Dangote Shares Some Of His Success Secrets

Africa's richest man and most successful Nigerian businessman, Aliko Dangote has revealed some of the secrets that have made him successful in business over the years.
Dangote on Monday revealed secrets of his success as: self-sufficiency and backward integration, a manufacturing strategy that extracts value from entire processes.

Speaking at the Financial Times’ 4th annual Africa Summit at Claridges in London in the presence of Nigerian vice-president, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, Congolese presidential hopeful Moise Katumbi, and about 300 business leaders, he declares; “We are not going to import anything any longer."

“In Nigeria we are learning how to produce the entire value chain,” Dangote stressed.

In 2007 Nigeria was the second largest importer of cement after the US, Dangote reminded the audience of business elites. “Today, we have not only satisfied domestic needs; we have become a leading exporter of 6-7M tonnes of cement,” he added.

Diversifying into agriculture, Dangote has eyes on the dairy industry motivated by the fact that “98% of all milk consumed in Nigeria is imported,” same for rice.

Dangote Group has invested heavily in rice production by investing in local farmers and then offering to buy back the 1M tonnes at open market prices that they are growing.

“Soon we will be able to feed not only Nigeria but the entire 320 million large West African market.”