Aliko Mohammad Dangote is a Nigerian businessman who started the Dangote Group and Dangote Refinery. By January 2026, he was the 91st richest person in the world and the richest Black person, with almost $30 billion. He started his business in 1977, and in 1981, he set up Dangote Nigeria Limited and Blue Star Services.
Later, he started Dangote Cement, and by 2023, Dangote Cement earned about $3.7 billion, and Dangote Sugar Refinery became one of the biggest sugar producers in Africa. He is well known in Africa that in 2011, he was given the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger, and in 2014, he was named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people.
Early Life and Family Background
Aliko Dangote was born on 10 April 1957 in Kano, Nigeria, into one of the biggest business families in West Africa. He is Hausa and was raised Muslim.
His dad was Mohammed Dangote. He was a businessman with a transport company and did a lot of trading. His father also had political ties and was a member of the Northern House of Assembly in the 1950s. He died in 1965 when Aliko was about eight.
His mum is Mariya Sanusi Dantata. She came from the rich Dantata trading family. She was a businesswoman and did charity work too. After her husband died, she raised the kids and stayed mostly out of the public eye. Aliko later named his boat after her.
His maternal grandfather was Sanusi Dantata. He was a very wealthy trader and helped raise Aliko after his dad died. He also supported Aliko’s early business efforts.
His great-grandfather was Alhassan Abdullahi Dantata, who was once the richest person in West Africa. He made his wealth from kola nut and groundnut trading before he died in 1955.
Aliko had three brothers. Sani Dangote was a businessman and worked in the Dangote Group. He died in 2021 from colorectal cancer. Bello Dangote died in a plane crash in Kano in 1996. Garba Dangote, the youngest, died in 2013 after suffering a stroke.
Education
Dangote started his formal education in Kano State, in northern Nigeria. He went to a Madrasa called Sheikh Ali Kumasi Madrasa, where he got his basic religious and primary schooling. After that, he moved to a regular school, Capital High School in Kano. He finished his secondary education at Government College, Birnin Kudu, and graduated in 1978.
After secondary school, he left Nigeria to study abroad. He went to Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, which is one of the oldest and most respected Islamic universities in the world. There, he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Business Studies and Administration. This helped him learn formal business skills, which added to the entrepreneurial talent he already had from a young age.
Because of his success, he has also received several honorary doctorate degrees from universities like Coventry University in the UK, the University of Ibadan in Nigeria, and Ahmadu Bello University in Nigeria, among others.
Aliko Dangote business career
Dangote started learning how business works when he was a child by selling sweets and some other items with his pocket money. This helped him understand profit and demand early on. In 1977, he returned to Nigeria and used a 3,000 dollar loan from a family member to begin trading basic goods like sugar, rice and cement.
By 1981, the business had grown enough for him to officially establish the Dangote Group, which would later become the largest industrial group in West Africa. At the start, the company focused on trading and secured licences to import essential goods such as sugar, salt, rice and cement. These licences were very important at the time because government policies controlled bulk imports, and having them helped Dangote grow quickly.
The real shift in his business came when he moved from trading to manufacturing. Cement became the heart of his business. Dangote Cement grew into the largest cement producer in Sub-Saharan Africa, with major plants in Obajana, Ibese and Gboko, as well as operations in several other African countries.
Local cement production supported construction and reduced Nigeria’s dependence on imports. Dangote later expanded into food processing, including sugar refining, flour milling, salt processing, pasta and other food products.
Dangote also made a major move into energy with the Dangote Refinery near Lagos, which began in the mid-2010s. It is Africa’s largest oil refinery, with an initial capacity of about 650,000 barrels per day, producing petrol, diesel and jet fuel to reduce fuel imports. Plans exist to expand it to 1.4 million barrels per day.
He also invested in fertiliser production in Nigeria and planned a 2.5 billion dollar nitrogen fertiliser plant in Ethiopia. Today, the Dangote Group operates in more than a dozen African countries across cement, food, energy, fertiliser, logistics and real estate.
Is Aliko Dangote a politician?
Aliko Dangote has been involved in Nigerian politics mainly by giving money and advice, not by holding political office. In 2003, he gave more than ₦200 million to support President Olusegun Obasanjo’s re-election campaign. He also donated ₦50 million to help fund the National Mosque project connected to Olusegun Obasanjo and Atiku Abubakar.
In 2011, President Goodluck Jonathan appointed Dangote to his Economic Management Team. During the 2019 elections, Dangote acted as an adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election campaign, although neither Dangote nor Buhari publicly spoke in detail about it.
Even though Dangote has supported and advised different governments, he has never held an elected political office. Aliko Dangote has said he doesn’t want to be president or go into formal politics. He thinks he can help the country more through business. He wants to create jobs and grow the economy instead.
Issues and Criticisms
People often say Dangote has too much control over the market, especially with Dangote Cement. Critics argue this limits competition and keeps prices high. Some also think government policies have helped his companies too much, making it hard for others to compete. There were past claims that Dangote Cement got big tax breaks and paid very little despite huge profits.
His labour practices also get heat. Some say top roles go to expatriates while Nigerian workers get lower pay. There are also claims of wage gaps and anti-union actions. In 2025, the refinery faced major strikes after hundreds of workers were fired, sparking fights over safety and job security.
The Dangote Refinery has also been criticised for running below full capacity and facing financial and operational issues. Some online posts questioned diesel quality and sulphur levels, though Dangote officials denied this. He has also clashed with Nigeria’s oil regulator, and people have complained about unclear pricing.
Some critics also say government policies like border closures and foreign-exchange favours helped his business. His name appearing in the Panama Papers also stirred debate about transparency, even though no illegal action was proven.
Wife and Children
Aliko Dangote has been married twice and both marriages ended in divorce. He has not married again since the second one ended around 2017. His first marriage was in 1977 to Zainab Dangote. Their families arranged it. They had two daughters, Halima and Mariya, but later divorced.
His second marriage was to Mariya Muhammad Rufai, the daughter of a former Bauchi State government official. They had one daughter, Fatima, and divorced around 2017.
Dangote has four children in total. His oldest daughter is Mariya Dangote. She studied abroad and got a Master’s degree from Coventry University in the UK. She keeps a private life and works in the family business.
Halima Dangote is his second daughter. She studied marketing and business abroad in the UK and the USA. She married Sulaiman Sani Bello in 2008, and they have two daughters.
Fatima Dangote is the youngest daughter. She studied law abroad and runs a bakery business in Lagos. She married Jamil Abubakar in 2018, a pilot and the son of a former Inspector-General of Police.
Dangote also has an adopted son named Abdulrahman Fasasi. He, too, is involved in the family business.
Net Worth
Aliko Dangote’s net worth in 2025 is huge. Forbes real-time data from January 2026 puts it at about 26 billion dollars. That places him around number 90 among the richest people in the world.
In April 2025, Forbes shared its official billionaire list of the richest people in the world. On that list, Aliko Dangote was said to have about 23.9 billion dollars. That amount made him the richest person in Africa, while sitting at number 86 in the world. The jump from 2024 was very noticeable.
Bloomberg’s figures were higher. In late 2025, it valued his fortune between 29.7 billion and 30.2 billion dollars. Strong results from cement and oil refining pushed him up to around number 75 worldwide at the time.
A year earlier, the picture was different. Forbes estimated his net worth at about 13.4 billion dollars in 2024. In 2023, estimates ranged from roughly 12.9 billion to 20.4 billion dollars, depending on how his assets were valued.
In naira, the numbers look even bigger. If you use about 1,500 naira to one dollar, 26 billion dollars comes to roughly 39 trillion naira. That number can change fast because the exchange rate moves a lot.
His fortune is built on a few core businesses like the Dangote Cement that dominates the African market. What’s more, Dangote Petroleum Refinery, which is unarguably the largest in Africa, is also a major boost to his wealth. Fertiliser and other industrial investments also contribute significantly.
Aliko Dangote Cars and Houses
Aliko Dangote owns several houses in Nigeria. One is a big mansion on Banana Island in Lagos. He also has a residence in Kano. This house is often used when family members and important guests visit. Another mansion is in Abuja, worth tens of millions of dollars.
There have been many online stories claiming he owns houses in London or the United States. Dangote has personally dismissed these claims. In interviews, he has said he does not own any houses outside Nigeria. He has explained that he prefers to keep his investments at home. Beyond personal homes, he is known to own several commercial properties in Lagos. Reports often mention around six residential and commercial buildings. Their value is usually estimated based on rental income.
He has been linked to expensive cars like the Mercedes-Benz Maybach and the Mercedes-Benz CL65 AMG. The Bugatti Veyron also comes up often in reports about his car collection. He is also said to own cars like the Bentley Mulsanne and the Toyota Land Cruiser Prado. Some even claim he has more than one Rolls-Royce. For everyday movement and security, he is usually seen in big luxury SUVs and heavy-duty jeeps.
Dangote is also known to travel by private jet. He owns at least one long-range business jet, often said to be a Bombardier Global Express model. He is also the owner of a luxury yacht called Mariya that costs tens of millions of dollars.