A notable scholar once said “the world makes room for those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” But I add “…and work hard to make that dream a reality." It is quite easy to dream but the real challenge lies in achieving it. Every day, people struggle against all odds and race against world to see their dreams come into reality but only few people experience the manifestation of their dreams. Challenges like; frustration, indiscipline, impatience, excuses, laziness and a whole lot of other setbacks actually derail many from the paths of their destinies. Yet, in spite of the fiery darts of trials life throws, others still rise above these challenges to build their dreams – one of such few resilient ones is Nigeria’s own Alhaji Aliko Dangote, the CEO of Dangote Groups.

How the Race Began…

Aliko Dangote was born on the 10th of April, 1957 in Kano State, Nigeria to Mohammed Dangote and Hajia Mariya Sanusi Dantata. Although he was born into a wealthy entrepreneurial family, Dangote chose not to depend on his family’s wealth. As a child, he had always been passionate about business – a passion he picked up from his entrepreneurial grandfather. So when he was in Primary school, he decided to pursue his passion by buying and selling cartons of sweets. In order to improve his knowledge on his passion, Dangote proceeded to Al Azhar University, Cairo in Egypt to study business. Armed with the knowledge he garnered from the university, he returned to Nigeria and started up a small trading firm with a capital of Five Hundred Thousand Naira loaned to him by his uncle.

With the loan from his uncle, Dangote imported commodities like rice and sugar which he sold to consumers. The venture proved to be lucrative and before long, he realised that it was more economical and profitable to produce some of the commodities he imported. With that realisation, he commenced the production of sugar, salt, flour and pasta. Shortly after, he ventured into cement production after he was awarded a state-owned cement company. These businesses eventually grew to become the National Salt Company of Nigeria Plc., Dangote Flour Mills Plc., Dangote Cements Plc. and Dangote Sugar Refrinery.

Still on the Journey…

Through 30 years of unrelenting hard work, dogged determination and unwavering passion, Dangote Group which started in 1977 as a small trading firm is today, a large conglomerate which operates in Nigeria and some other African countries like; Benin, Ethiopia, Senegal, Cameroon, Ghana, South Africa, Togo, Tanzania, and Zambia. Today, Dangote, Sugar Refinery, producing 800,000 tonnes of sugar annually, is the major supplier of sugar to Nigeria’s soft drink companies and breweries. Because Dangote has the knack for recognising and making the most of opportunities, he has expanded his business into exportation of cotton, cashew nuts, cocoa, sesame seed and ginger to several countries in addition to having investments in real estate, banking, transport, textiles and telecommunications.

As shrewd business man who is equally passionate about the development of his country, Dangote diversified into telecommunications by building 14,000 kilometres of fibre optic cables to supply the whole of Nigeria. In addition, he purchased an oil refinery in Lagos which is scheduled to be commissioned in 2017. With the oil plant which is expected to produce half a million barrels of oil a day, the business mongul hopes to reduce the country’s dependence on international oil and gas suppliers. At the moment, Dangote has expanded his line of business into food processing and freight.

Still expanding the frontiers of the business empire into other African countries, the salt, sugar and flour manufacturing companies under Dangote Group are currently active in 15 other African countries. In 2015, Dangote Cement launched new plants in Cameroon, Ethiopia, Zambia and Tanzania. The company produces more than 30 million metric tons annually, and plans to double its capacity by 2018. As a major employer of labour in the country, Dangote Group has staff strength of 12,000 which is expected to rise to 22,000 upon the completion of on-going projects.

Achievements…

All the years of entrepreneurial activities and smart business investments have earned Dangote the title of the richest man in Nigeria. As at 2015, Forbes Magazine placed the business tycoon as the number one richest man in Africa, 51st richest man in the world and the 71st most powerful man in the world. His Net worth as of November, 2016 according to Forbes is 11.9 Billion US dollars.

Philanthropic Activities…

The business kingpin is not all passionate about making money only. Over the years, he has contributed his wealth to several religious and philanthropic causes. He contributed N50 million to the National Mosque under the aegis of "Friends of Obasanjo and Atiku". He contributed N200 million to the Presidential Library. In 2014, Dangote donated 150 million Naira to halt the spread of Ebola in the country.

Accolades…

In recognition of this great entrepreneur’s contributions to the growth of the Nigerian and African economy as well as his philanthropic contributions, he has been the recipient of several awards including the prestigious ZIK Award for professional leadership (1992), the International Award of Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Cross River State Roll of Honour Award (2002) and the This day Newspapers Award for Chief Executive Officer of the Year (2005). In 2000, he was conferred with the national honour of Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON) and in 2005, he was honoured as a Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON). On 14 November 2011, he was awarded Nigeria';s second highest honour, the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON) by the President, Goodluck Jonathan. Dangote was named as the Forbes Africa Person of the Year 2014.

In a Nutshell…

Alhaji Aliko Dangote';s journey to fortune is not a story of “rags to riches”, nor a tale of “grass to grace.” Although he was born into wealth, he chose to look beyond his family’s wealth to build an empire which would transcend the boundaries of his immediate environment. Of course the Dangote conglomerate was not built in a day; it took decades of hard labour, lots of claimed opportunities, pursued business ideas, smart decision making and most importantly, uncompromising resilience and tenacity to make his dream a working reality.

Alhaji Dangote expressed his journey so far in the following words “I built a conglomerate and emerged the richest black man in the world in 2008 but it didn';t happen overnight. It took me 30 years to get to where I am today. Youths of today aspire to be like me but they want to achieve it overnight. It';s not going to work. To build a successful business, you must start small and dream big. In the journey of entrepreneurship, tenacity of purpose is supreme."

As the golden boy of African business industry, Alhaji Aliko Dangote is a practical example of successful entrepreneurship and a torchbearer to the upcoming generation of African entrepreneurs. He is definately an entrepreneur worth celebrating.