Economy

Nigerian billionaire Dangote outshines Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, and others as he crosses the $20 billion mark

Published

3 months ago

January 26, 2024

Nigerian billionaire, Aliko Dangote has experienced a significant jump in his net worth as he outshined global billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffet, and Bill Gates.

Bloomberg’s real-time billionaire index indicates that the CEO of the influential Dangote group has amassed a wealth of over $20 billion.

The index showed that Dangote’s last change in valuation came in at +$282 million, while his year-to-date (YTD) change is a staggering +$6.91 billion.

Dangote’s YTD gain trumps Jeff Bezos’s whose YTD change in the period under review is +4.92 billion, Warren Buffet’s whose YTD change is +$6.31 billion, and Bill Gates’s YTD change which came in at +$1.62 billion.

Dangote began the year with $9.5 billion as Africa’s second richest man, behind South Africa’s Johann Rupert, who at the time was worth $10.3 billion.

However as the month ran on, Dangote’s billion-dollar net worth crossed the double-digit mark, flatlining at around $14 billion, which firmly reestablished his status as the continent’s richest person. However, as the month ends, Dangote has yet again hit another significant milestone, crossing the $20 billion mark.

This dramatic rise in net worth is attributed to the impressive performance of the Dangote cement company which surpassed the N10 trillion market cap, standing as the first Nigerian company to do so.

The cement company was able to draw in his fellow Nigerian billionaire, Femi Otedola who acquired significant of shares in the company.

With a market capitalization of N10.09 trillion, Dangote Cement is now Nigeria’s largest firm, surpassing Airtel Africa, which is valued at N7.5 trillion.

Additionally, Dangote’s newly built oil refinery has also drawn in a lot of investors who have staked significant funds on the prospect of the refinery dominating Africa’s oil network. Currently, an estimated 150,000 stations have already secured the rights to distribute petroleum products distilled in the billionaire’s refinery.

The $20.5 billion Dangote refinery, Africa’s largest, has a processing capacity of 650,000 barrels per day. It aims to produce 250,000 barrels per day of gasoline and 100,000 barrels per day of gasoline and diesel. These outputs could contribute to fuel self-sufficiency and reduce the $26 billion spent on petroleum imports in 2022.

With a capacity to generate 27 million litres of diesel, the Dangote refinery is set to also supply 11 million litres of kerosene, and 9 million litres of jet fuel, sourcing crude from various producers in Nigeria, including the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).