Billionaire Watch
Dangote had to withdraw $10m to confirm he was wealthy
Africa’s richest man, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, said he didn’t believe how wealthy he was until he withdrew $10 million from his bank account all at once.
Africa’s richest man, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, said he didn’t believe how wealthy he was until he withdrew $10 million from his bank account all at once.
Dangote disclosed this during an interview session with fellow billionaire — Dr Mo Ibrahim, at the 2019 Ibrahim Forum in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire.
Mo was full of questions – The renowned industrialist was asked about how he felt when he first achieved success.
In response, Dangote stated that he didn’t believe he had money until the day he drove himself to the bank, withdrew the sum of $10 million, and took it home in the butt of his car. He said he took the money inside his house, stared at it, and returned it to the bank the following day.
Afterwards, he believed he was a millionaire.
“You know the way it is is that when you first start business, your target is to make your first million. Okay, fine, I did that.
“But after a year or so, I realised that look, I had about 12, $13 billion. You know, I said ‘Okay fine, all these numbers are just written numbers’.
“So, One day, I went to a bank. That time, there were no restrictions or anything. So, I wrote a cheque and cashed $10 million. And I took it home… I put it in the butt of my vehicle and went home. And I looked at it and I said ‘Okay fine, now I believe I have money’.”
Mo also asked for details about the Dangote Refinery
About $13bn expended on the project– According to Africa’s richest man, the refinery project he is undertaking in Lagos has, so far, gulped between $12 billion to $13 billion.
When asked why it seems so expensive, Dangote explained that the project is multifaceted, covering the refinery, petrochemical, fertiliser, and gas pipeline.
He then described the project and the facility it is located on which, according to him is “huge”. And just so you know how huge, it has 30 kilometres of fencing!
He also talked about some of the challenges they’ve faced, including having to build a port for the facility. This is because regular Nigerian ports cannot handle the weight of some of the equipment they are shipping in.
Dongote is poised to cash out – The projected incomes/profits from the refinery project is huge, just as the project itself. What this means, therefore, is that Africa’s richest man is positioning himself for more wealth, as soon as the project begins operation in just a few years.
As Dangote stated, what he hopes to replicate the same success he has recorded in the cement industry. Nigeria will become one of the biggest exporters of refined petroleum products in Africa. And this means more money streaming into Dangote’s many fat account numbers.
There is no gainsaying the fact he will never again have to question how wealthy he is. He is Africa’s richest man, a position he most likely will retain for a long time to come.
Billionaire Watch
Dangote’s net worth declines by $1.2 billion in February
Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote lost $1.2 billion of his estimated net worth.
Aliko Dangote, the founder of Africa’s most diversified manufacturing conglomerate, Dangote Industries, has seen his net worth decline by a whopping $1.20 billion in the month of February alone.
Africa’s richest man whose wealth peaked at $18.4 billion this year, saw his wealth declined by $1.20 billion, to $16.6 billion from $17.8 billion recorded on the 31st of January 2021, data retrieved from Bloomberg Billionaire Index reveals.
Source: Bloomberg Billionaire Index
The fall in Dangote’s net worth is partly attributable to the decline in the share price of his flagship company, Dangote Cement Plc (DCP), as well as the share price of his integrated sugar business, Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc (DSR).
The decline in the share price of these companies which impacted their market capitalization was occasioned by profit-taking activities by investors in February, across the market spectrum.
Facts about Dangote’s networth valuation
The majority of Dangote’s fortune is derived from his 86% stake in the publicly-traded Dangote Cement, as the billionaire holds the shares of the company directly and through his conglomerate, Dangote Industries.
He holds stakes in Nascon Allied Industries and United Bank for Africa, directly and through Dangote Industries, a conglomerate that also owns closely held businesses operating in food manufacturing, fertilizer, oil and other industries.
Dangote’s most valuable closely held asset is his fertilizer plant with a capacity to produce up to 2.8MT of urea annually. The $2.5 billion fertilizer plant owned by Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote, is expected to commence operation in the first quarter of 2021.
The billionaire also owns a $12 billion oil refinery which is expected to be completed this year. However, the plant is not included in his net worth valuation, for some reason.
What you should know
- The shares of Dangote Cement at the close trading activities for the month of February declined by 6.78%, extending the YTD loss on the shares of the cement behemoth to over 10%.
- On the flip side, shares of Dangote Sugar Refinery also declined by 15.29% to close the month lower at N18 per share, thus correcting the YTD gains of its shares to 2.27%.
Billionaire Watch
Battle of Titans: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos share world’s richest title
Stiff competition prevails as both Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk share the world’s richest title.
The battle for the worlds richest has suddenly become so intense that both Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos both share the world’s richest man title on the account they both have a net worth of $184 billion.
Bezos, the man behind the world’s most valuable retail company, Amazon, has steadily been seeing his wealth valuation appreciate amid high market volatility currently prevailing at global financial markets.
The 49-year-old self-made billionaire, Elon Musk is sharing, the world’s richest when recent data revealed Tesla recorded impressive gains of about $9.75 at the end of Monday’s trading session.
Investors are currently increasing their buying pressure on Tesla as they weigh reports that the electric vehicle industry is expected to grow into a $5 trillion market over the next decade, thereby giving the world’s most valuable car company room for more upside.
READ: China’s richest man worth $94.1 billion earned a fortune from selling bottled water
It’s important to note that both mega billionaires have in recent times focused their considerable brainpower on space technology as Bezos recently accelerated his space-travel efforts through his firm popularly known as Blue Origin.
Recent reports suggest SpaceX founded by Musk raised another $850 million this month from a group of leading institutional investors led by Sequoia Capital.
Such investment now puts SpaceX’s valuation at $74 billion, a 60% jump from August, and helped boost Musk’s net worth by about $11 billion, according to the index.
Bezos who is now the Chairman of the $1.58 trillion valued company, Amazon has about $9.63 billion cash in the bank.
READ: Apple’s market value cross $ 2 trillion
The online retail giant returns have under his tenure as the chief executive officer of the e-commerce giant actually ranked second among all S&P stocks since the IPO in May 1997.
The 57-year-old billionaire is the founder of Amazon, the world’s biggest online retailer company on earth. The American-based company sells books, household goods, and other retail products through its flagship platform.
His company also controls the Whole Foods grocery chain and offers video streaming services and remains the biggest cloud computing provider worldwide.
READ: Billionaires worth over $100 billion made $270 billion in 2020
That being said, both Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos’s wealth valuation would currently buy 107 million troy ounces of gold or 2.91 billion barrels of crude oil.
Sydney
April 7, 2019 at 7:29 am
Dangote is my dad. I was at home the day he brought the money home. We counted it together. Lol
Uche
April 7, 2019 at 7:50 am
I keep asking myself what it is that this man did differently. What gave him leverage? How can I become like him?
Victor Ikani
April 7, 2019 at 5:38 pm
Schedule an appointment with me let’s talk.
Ogbewe felly
April 8, 2019 at 3:01 am
This man is just too good at what is doing,just pray I could grow financially more too.