[NIGERIA] Aliko Dangote’s Refinery is a Game Changer

In Africa, Billionaire businessman, Alhaji Aliko Dangote deserves a gigantic monument of him erected around the African soil also his business strategies of staying afloat needed to be studied by students looking to get a degree in business-related fields. The generous moneybag does not court media attention needlessly. Yet, almost every move he makes, either in his business or private life, has never escaped the attention of newshounds. He has remained a delight to professional journalists and biographers across the continent. If you choose to scribble his uncommon feats as a businessman, you will come up with volumes of work that will most likely intimidate a bibliophile. In the same way, if you choose to document his philanthropic acts, in black and white, your hand may grow tired.

Although, His life in entirety is a compelling study in determination, focus and ambition. Like every creature, this amiable billionaire too has his own humble beginning. But his humble beginning, will inspire any ambitious soul, any day and any time. As a young man, he had a clear vision of what he wanted to do later in life and he pursued it with unwavering doggedness. Though he started out as a trader at 21, he is today Africa’s leading businessman. His chain of companies is spread across 16 countries around the world and he has over 15,000 people on his payroll.

 As an entrepreneur, he always sees vast opportunities, while others are bogged down by morbid fear of failure. A few years ago, in his quest of cutting out Nigeria’s import of refined crude products, he conceived the Dangote Petroleum Refinery. The Kano Forbes rated Africa’s richest man invested over $20b to ensure the project is complete to meet Nigeria’s crude need and also for exportation. The project will see Nigeria save $10Bn and also generate another $10Bn in export. As the refined product will meet Euro V specifications. This will ensure stability in our economy and solidify the Naira. As the project is set to commission for full operation by President tomorrow Monday the 22^nd of May, business pundit has averred that when production and operation take off at full capacity of 650,000Barrels Per Day, the refinery will be a game changer that will put Nigeria on the world map and also open the country to more trade and life-changing opportunities because it’s designed to process large varieties of crude including many African crude, middle east crudes and the US light Tight Oil. Today, the visionary businessman has built the largest sugar factory in the whole of Africa, the largest cement factory in the continent, largest flour mill in the continent while his completed refinery is one of the largest in the world.

 Apart from his business acumen, he is also a philanthropist of note. He has collaborated with the Bill Gates Foundation to invest in the provision of health, especially the eradication of polio in Africa and other parts of the world, where the disease is still prevalent.