The real Igweee!

Forbes magazine and by far the richest African and also the richest black person anywhere in the world after taking over from Ethiopia born Mohammed Al Amoudi who is now ranked 63rd richest in the and second richest black person.
Alhaji Aliko Dangote (born April 10, 1957 in Kano) is a businessman of Fulani ethnicity based in Nigeria, residing in Abuja .
He is the owner of the Dangote Group, which has operations in Nigeria and several other countries in Africa, including Benin, Cameroon, Ghana, South Africa and Zambia.
He is a graduate of Business Studies from the Al-Azahar University, Cairo, Egypt and the Founder/Chief Executive Officer of the Dangote Group, which he transformed from a small trading business he started in 1977 to a multi-billion naira conglomerate spanning the West African sub region.
With an estimated current net worth of around US$ 13,8 billion, he was ranked by Forbes as the richest African citizen, and richest person of African descent in the world toppling Mohammed Al Amoudi (US$12,3 billion), South Africa’s Oppenheimer family (US$8 billion) and Oprah Winfrey (US$2,7 billion.)
Dangote began his career as a commodities trader; built his Dangote Group into conglomerate with interests in sugar, flour milling, salt processing, cement manufacturing, textiles, real estate, and oil and gas.
His empire is now a multi-trillion naira conglomerate with operations in Benin, Ghana, Nigeria, and Togo.
Dangote’s businesses include food processing, cement manufacturing, and freight.
The Dangote Group dominates the sugar market in Nigeria: it is the major sugar supplier to the country’s soft drink companies, breweries, and confectioners. Dangote Group has moved from being a trading company to Nigeria’s largest industrial group, including Dangote Sugar Refinery (the most capitalised company on the Nigeria Stock Exchange, valued at over US$3 billion with Aliko Dangote’s equity topping US$2 billion), Africa’s largest cement production plant: Obajana Cement, Dangote Flour amongst others.
A wealthy supporter of erstwhile President Olusegun Obasanjo and the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Dangote controls much of Nigeria’s commodities trade through his corporate and political connections.
Dangote played a prominent role in the funding of Obasanjo’s re-election campaign in 2003, to which he contributed over N200 million (US$2m). He gave N50 million (US$0,5m) to the National Mosque under the aegis of “Friends of Obasanjo and Atiku”, and contributed N200 million to the Presidential Library.
These controversial gifts to members of the ruling People’s Democratic Party have contributed to concerns over continued graft despite highly-publicised anti-corruption drives during Obasanjo’s second term. He also donated N2b worth of cement to ruling PDP party in building its new party secretariat.
It is alleged that he receives monopolistic rights in exchange for grafts. A bag of cement cost about 2 000 naira in Nigeria, while the same bag of 50kg cost R12 in South Africa, this equivalent to about 300 naira in Nigeria, retrospectively, this was about the standard price of a 50kg bag of cement before he had his stronghold on the economy.
In 2007 Dangote was believed to be in financial trouble. Already a polygamist, he made a clandestine marriage proposal to the then 23-year-old Aisha, daughter of the late Amaru Yar’adua who was the President of Nigeria.
The men who had married his other two daughters were in very cushy and powerful positions.
It was viewed as a desperate quest for power and Aisha who had literally become an acquisition challenge and “coveted trophy” for very ambitious vultures seeking political patronage turned down Dangote’s proposal.
On May 23 2010, England’s Daily Mirror newspaper reported that Dangote was interested in buying a 16 percent stake in Premiership side Arsenal belonging to Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith. Dangote later denied these rumours.
In recognition of his contributions to the growth of the Nigerian economy and his philanthropy, he has been conferred with several awards including the prestigious ZIK Award for professional leadership (1992), the International Award of Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Cross River State Roll of Honour Award (2002) and the Thisday Newspapers Award for Chief Executive Officer of the Year (2005). He was conferred with the national honour of Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON) in 2000 and Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) in 2005.
The past year has been sweet for Aliko Dangote as his networth has surged by more than 557 percent to US$13,8 billion, up from US$2,1 billion after listing his Dangote Cement on Nigeria’s Stock Exchange.
Already Africa’s biggest cement maker, he has plants under construction in Zambia, Tanzania, Congo and Ethiopa and is building cement terminals in Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast and Liberia, among other places.
Dangote, who recently bought himself a US$45 million Bombardier aircraft for his birthday, has been shuttling back and forth to London for months, in anticipation of a public offering there later this year. – Wikipedia nazret.com dangote-group.com modernghana.com