The Bloomberg 50 has recognized Nigeria’s Aliko Dangote as one of the persons who defined global business in 2017, the award is a new, annual, multi-platform initiative that honours 50 icons and innovators who have changed the global business landscape in measurable ways over the past year.
The first Bloomberg 50 honourees were selected by the Bloomberg Businessweek team after months of input from many of Bloomberg’s 2,700 journalists and analysts around the globe, leveraging the resources of the Bloomberg Terminal, and represent the most influential thought leaders in business, finance, technology and science, politics, and entertainment.
A statement on Tuesday quoted Dangote as saying, “I am very delighted with this selection and I see the recognition as a call to do more towards youth empowerment, job creation, better health for the people and economic emancipation of the African continent.”
As of February 2017, Dangote, according to Forbes Magazine, had an estimated net worth of $12.5bn, ranked as the 67th richest person in the world and the richest in Africa.
Bloomberg, in the preface written by Paul Wallace, said, “Dubbed ‘the quiet billionaire’ for his relatively frugal lifestyle, Dangote fast-tracked plans to help his country of 180 million people import less of what it eats. Dangote, who made his fortune in the cement industry, is turning his attention to dairy and sugar farming; he’s earmarked $800m to buy 50,000 cattle in the hope of producing 500 million litres of milk annually by 2019.
“He’s also racing to finish a 650,000-barrel-a-day oil refinery near Lagos, set to be one of the world’s biggest, and says he intends to spend as much as $50bn in the next decade on renewable energy and petrochemical refineries, including investments in the US and Europe. Which is all fine, but not quite his grand ambition: buying Arsenal, his favourite soccer team.” (Punch)