Interview with Dangote Group president and CEO Aliko Dangote

Interview with Aliko Dangote, president and CEO., Dangote Group 

Interview with president and CEO of Dangote Group in Nigeria, Aliko Dangote.

Aliko's Private Jet

Aliko Dangote, 

President and CEO of the Dangote Group, 

At his office. This is where the wealth are created

The Dangote Group is one of the most diversified business conglomerates in Africa. The group’s activities encompass cement manufacturing, sugar and salt refining, flour and semolina milling, pasta and noodle manufacturing, poly products manufacturing, port management and haulage logistics, real estate and the Dangote Foundation.

How confident are you about growth prospects going forward, in Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa?

Our business strategy has really paid off. The year 2012 was particularly good for us in terms of our record of excellent performance. In 2012, we launched a number of projects, including a fertiliser plant and an oil refinery. These are big-ticket projects. We are also looking at establishing more cement plants and expanding our sugar business in line with the new federal government backward integration policy.

Our business strategy has been to look at the country’s imports and invest in critical areas of need. By so doing, we have helped to make Nigeria self sufficient in some commodities such as cement, and also a net exporter of these products, specifically within the Economic Community Of West African States.

There are a lot of investment opportunities in Nigeria and Africa. Discerning investors know this and are trooping in to have a piece of the pie. The only thing keeping others back is the issue of the negative perception that some people have about the continent. But things are changing fast. Africa is one of the fastest growing regions in the world. The return on investment in Africa is also one of the highest.

So, the potential for growth is there. We need to transform this potential into reality. In addition, you have to be innovative in this market. If you bring a textbook solution and try to apply it here, it won’t work. To tell you the truth, the best market today is sub-Saharan Africa and I have not seen any country where you can make money like in Nigeria and I say it to anyone who cares to listen. The opportunities here are so tremendous.

How do you balance growth trajectories with profitability?

We are currently diversifying our business. Some businesses will have greater or lesser profitability, depending on the industry. In petrochemicals or refining, for instance, the refining margin is low, perhaps no more than 10%-12%, but what we are doing is not just refining, we are also extracting a lot of high-value items out of the import pool. That requires a huge investment.

For example, today, I don’t control all of the costs in my sugar business because I don’t grow my own sugar. I only add value. If the cost of raw sugar goes up too high, I can’t make much money, but if it falls, I can make more money. By producing sugar, you end up with excess capacity. When you crush the byproduct, you end up with a shell which can power high-pressure boilers to produce power, which you can pass through the national grid. You produce ethanol which you can mix with diesel for fuel and other byproducts can be used for animal feed. So there is no waste and it is about value distribution and putting things back into the economy, including employment.

What are some of the risks to growth that worry you?

The biggest issue that we have that really worries me is the lack of infrastructure. Our leaders are beginning to understand this. Without infrastructure, no one will come to your country to invest.

I also have a phobia about debt. The way we operate the company is this: we take on debt and we go through our trajectory to deliver what we promised to deliver. We accumulate cash and after two years or so we have more money to invest. Once you do your numbers right and know what you are doing, everything falls into place.

There is risk in anything. What you need to do is make sure that you minimise those risks and that they are calculated risks.

Corruption and oil theft in Nigeria are two other areas that I am more worried about. When you create jobs and people have disposable income, there is less restlessness, particularly among the youth. It is very simple. We have abundant resources, but we need the right attitude to get there.

                                   Aliko flying in his private jet with Tony Elumelu former CEO of UBA

Prosperity is is determined by how long your Assets/cash can sustain your living and comfort after you ve stopped working. For Aliko Dangote and his family has amassed so much wealth that even if they stop working today they cannot lack in the next 100 years. He that works Hard eats the choicest. Enjoy...

However, we all came naked and we shall all return naked to our maker. And the ultimate success is to be a blessing to other blessing to others and to make Heaven. Let's us strive to make Make it Here and Hereafter. Think About it.

Dangote’s 10 Golden Rules For Super Success In Life And Business

Aliko Dangote is mega successful, so when he speaks, people tend to listen carefully. In this article culled from Tribune, the wealthiest black man alive, with a networth estimated north of US$20 billion, shares ten golden nuggets on how to succeed in life:

See and maximise opportunities

This is one of the qualities that have made Dangote a successful business man in Africa. He possesses a knack for seeing opportunities beyond what others could see.

For instance, in April this year, he announced plans to invest $8 billion in building an oil refinery with capacity for around 400,000 barrels a day by late 2016. That is three years from now.

Of the amount, he revealed at the World Economic Forum on Africa held in Cape Town, South Africa, that he had raised $4.5 to build the refinery, securing loans from a consortium of banks.

Some have said with that singular move, if all goes according to plan, Dangote stands a great chance of becoming the richest man in the world.

Passion

A lot of business moguls have said that entrepreneurs need passion to pursue their vision in order to make it a reality. And that passion has served as catalyst to becoming the man Dangote is today. Being a person who had always had an eye for business even at a young age, he passionately pursued his ideas vigorously, becoming more than just an entrepreneur. “I can remember when I was in primary school, I would go and buy cartons of sweets and I would start selling them just to make money. I was so interested in business, even at that time,” he said of how he started off.

Start small

With a small token from his grandfather and a latter loan he took from same, he started a business. Now, he is the richest man in Africa, with net worth of $16.1 billion, as of March 2013, in Forbes’ estimates.

Explaining, Dangote said “for me, I started small as a trader in cement. Then I left cement around 1978. Because there was this armada and cement was difficult to get at that time. I had my own money which my grandfather gave me free, but then he gave me also an additional loan of N500, 000 (about $3,000) which was big money in those days. The money was quite a substantial amount then. The loan was supposed to be paid back whenever I was okay-maybe after three or four years. But I paid the loan back within six months.”

Don’t eat your seed money

At the time, Dangote was given the N500, 000 loan in 1978, which he could have easily used to chase cars, houses and whatever caught his fancy. Back then, a Mercedes Benz car was sold for N5,000 while a Volkswagen Beetle went for N900 to N1,000. But he didn’t do any of those, instead he invested the money and he was able to pay back the loan in six months, as against the originally thought three or four years.

Get an education

Aside his formal education – a degree in Business Studies and Administration from School of Economics & Business, Al Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt, he made himself available to get as much informal education as possible, from his grandfather, an uncle, the environment, the business climate and life in general.

“All my business acumen and instincts I inherited from my maternal grandfather. As his first grandson, he poured his business wizardry into me. I would not have been where I am today without him; a very great man, loving and caring.

“I started with the business of cement, which was giving us a lot of money because at that time, Nigeria was making so much money and we were doing a lot of constructions. On a vehicle which I normally get from my uncle, I was making about N1,350 to N1,400 per day, and I had an allocation of about three to four trucks including Saturdays and Sundays. Later, I realised I was making a lot of money though then, I didn’t have a lot of ideas of what to do. It was only cement business that I knew and I was stuck to it up till 1980, when I started knowing Lagos, becoming a Lagosian, understanding where to go and finding people to buy import licenses from. Within three months, I paid my grandfather back because I had no further need of his money,” the man was quoted to have said in a biography.

Slow and steady wins the race

Today, the world knows Dangote as a billionaire but did you know that he took him 30 years to amass $1 billion? His journey is a very interesting one, showing all the features of luck, opportunity, hardwork and providence, but most of all patience.

Invest in your environment

Dangote believes that taking your wealth outside the shores of the country wouldn’t help the country’s economy, therefore, he charged entrepreneurs to invest in their country, saying, “let me tell you this and I want to really emphasise it. Nothing is going to help Nigeria like Nigerians bringing back their money. If you give me $5 billion today, I will invest everything here in Nigeria. Let us put our heads together and work.”

Be accessible

“I am someone who doesn’t switch off my phone. My phone is on 24 hours. My day is not really very structured because of several issues. The demand of my time is really extremely high; especially in Nigeria you have a lot of ceremonies, and unnecessary ones,” Dangote said at a lecture at the Lagos Business School.

Don’t waste time

When attending business meetings or conferences in other countries, he said he could not afford to waste time. He explained that “sometimes I go all the way from here (Nigeria) to China, and spend only five hours in China and come back. That’s why I don’t take my private jet to China because the pilots need hours to rest, and the hours that they need, which is nine hours, I don’t have. So I have to take Emirates.”

Have a routine and invest in your health

Dangote said he starts his work days around 5 a.m., being the most productive for him, in his own admission. He also said he tries to fit in time to exercise most mornings, which helps him prevent stress. “Exercise is better than any medicine I can take. Exercise and sleep,” he said during the lecture. He is an ardent jogger.

Relax, let go of stress and worries

At one time, Dangote said he had trained himself not to let stress or worry affect his sleep, recommending that other entrepreneurs train themselves in this. “Even if someone had to tell me I would die tomorrow, I would still sleep.

On how he relaxes, he said, “my only enjoyment is to sit around and talk with my friends, and exercise. I like to exercise, and if people are doing weddings or whatever I like to show up for 10-20 minutes and then I go.”