Nigeria-based Dangote Group is aiming for the company to become one of the world’s top 100 companies within three years. Aliko Dangote, Africa’s wealthiest man and Dangote’s chief executive, revealed this recently saying the company planned to expand regionally, with the aim of investing US$16 billion (€11.81 billion), where it already has considerable investments. Dangote, already Africa’s leading cement producer, will complete five cement plants across five African countries in 2014, adding about 13.5 m
Nigeria-based Dangote Group is aiming for the company to become one of the world’s top 100 companies within three years.
Aliko Dangote, Africa’s wealthiest man and Dangote’s chief executive, revealed this recently saying the company planned to expand regionally, with the aim of investing US$16 billion (€11.81 billion), where it already has considerable investments.
Dangote, already Africa’s leading cement producer, will complete five cement plants across five African countries in 2014, adding about 13.5 million tonnes of cement/year to its existing capacity when completed.
The plants are at various stages of construction, and Dangote says the projects highlight the company’s pan-African expansion drive.
They include the 1.5million tonnes/year Zambian plant; Tanzania’s 1.5 million tonnes/year plant; South Africa’s 3 million tonnes/year plant, and 1.5 million tonnes/year capacity plants in the Republic of Congo and Gabon.
The Dangote Group is inaugurating a US$400 million (€294 million) cement factory in Zambia.
In Nigeria, Dangote is working on the third and fourth production lines in the 6 million tonnes/year plant in Ibese, Ogun State, and the group says it plans to bring the plant’s total capacity to 12million tonnes/year, while another 3 million topnnes/year line is being added to the Obajana cement plant in Kogi State. An additional 3 million tonnes/year is planned for its Obajana plant before the end of 2014. The plant currently has a capacity of 10.25 million tonnes/year and an additional 3 million tonnes/year.
The group’s core focus involves providing local value-added products and services that will generate employment and prevent capital flight.
“We will continue to encourage other investors to ensure that Nigeria becomes a self-sufficient industrial giant rather than a leader in importation,” says Aliko Dangote.
According to him, continuous investments in Nigeria and the rest of Africa were borne out of the fact that the country is a fertile ground for investment.
Indeed, in 2013, a Renaissance Capital research credited Dangote cement as a major force behind Nigeria’s feat in overtaking South Africa as the biggest cement manufacturer in sub-Saharan Africa.
