Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has secured the 6th spot on the list of the world’s richest manufacturing billionaires.
With a net worth of US$14.3 billion, Dangote is the founder of Dangote Cement, the largest cement producer in sub-Saharan Africa, holding an 85 percent stake, as reported by Insidermonkey.com. He also established Dangote Fertiliser and Refinery, the largest single-train refinery globally.
In a similar report by CEOWorld magazine last year, Dangote was ranked 9th among the top 10 wealthiest manufacturing billionaires worldwide. At that time, with a net worth of US$10.5 billion, he was the only African on the list, which was predominantly filled with billionaires from Asia and Europe.
Dangote continues to be the sole African among the top 25 billionaires worldwide.
The richest individual in the manufacturing sector is Reinhold Wuerth, with a net worth of US$35.3 billion. He Xiangjian is the second richest, with US$26.1 billion, followed by Michael Hartono with US$23.1 billion.
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In an interview, Dangote highlighted the critical role of manufacturing in alleviating poverty and creating employment. “It is evident that manufacturing is pivotal to industrialisation.
No country in the world has ever industrialised or attained ‘developed nation status’ without having a thriving manufacturing sector,” he stated.
Dangote pointed out that countries smaller than Nigeria, such as Singapore and South Korea, have achieved significant economic success due to their level of industrialisation, with average per capita GDPs of US$65,233 and US$31,846, respectively.
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