Africa’s richest man, Alhaji Aliko Dangote has pledged to spend up to $15 billion pursuing investment opportunities around the continent in the next 4-5 years.
Speaking at the sidelines of the town hall meeting hosted by US President, Barack Obama at the University of Johannesburg, Soweto campus, Alhaji Dangote said there is no better time to invest in Africa than now.
Dangote revealed that his company has invested approximately $8 billion in an oil refinery and another $2 billion in fertilizer in Nigeria alone, aside other billion dollar investments outside the country. According to him, all these are “just to try and drag people who really don’t understand Africa,” and “show them that doing business in Africa is not as bad as what people portray it to be.”
“In fact, we are a little stretched because in the next four to five years we are going to spend almost $15 billion, which is quite a lot,” he added.
Dangote, who recently spoke to a group of entrepreneurs on the advantages of investing in home country, Nigeria, reaffirmed that “the return on investment in Africa is always very high.”
He put investment returns level at “30 percent”, adding that anyone who is serious about doing business must invest in Africa.
Dangote also pointed out that the immense opportunity abound in Africa’s agricultural sector.
“…in the next couple of years, when the world population will cross over 8 billion, a lot of countries will need arable land and that land is only available in Africa. So there will be a lot happening here,” he explained.
