Aliko Dangote reveals how he built his empire from scratch

Billionaire businessman Aliko Dangote has shared insights into how he built his business empire, emphasizing that he started from scratch despite being born into a wealthy family.

In a recent video, Dangote explained that he deliberately chose not to rely on inherited wealth. He began his career working with his uncle before venturing into his own business, initially focusing on trading cement.

Recognizing the enormous potential in Nigeria’s cement industry, driven by the country’s substantial infrastructural deficits, Dangote expanded his operations, eventually growing into one of Africa’s most successful business magnates.

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Through hard work and innovative thinking, Dangote’s business empire grew exponentially, making him a self-made success story.

He added that he donated any inherited assets to charity.

Dangote said: ““I came from a wealthy family. My late great-grandfather in the 1940s was actually the richest, you know, West African. My late grandfather was one of the wealthiest Nigerians, you know.

“The family name is Dantata. That’s from my maternal side. My father too, you know, was fairly rich, you know, but he was both, you know, in business and also in politics.

“But you know, David, one thing that I’m very, very proud of is that I did not inherit any money from my father. I built everything from scratch to where I am. Well, he lived in the world, but you know, I mean, whatever that I inherited from him, which means in assets, I gave that on to charity since then.

“I started work with my, you know, uncle, but this few months and then I went to Lagos and now I started my own business by just, you know, buying cement, selling. You know, it was just a very low-key business. The issue is that when you look at cement, cement is what builds infrastructure and we need a lot of infrastructural deficits.

“In Nigeria alone, we have about 17,000 deficit of housing and it is all over in, you know, Africa. So when we started cement in Nigeria, we realized that majority of it was actually imported and that is why we went in there, we started and it’s a long story.”