by Thomas Wilson
A few days ago, the Forbes Magazine released its latest ranking of the richest people in the world. The list revealed that Nigerian billionaire and Africa's richest man, Aliko Dangote, is now Africa's first $20 billion man and the 25th richest man in the world.
The President/Chief Executive of the pan-African conglomerate, the Dangote Group, has become the first African entrepreneur to lay claim to a $20 billion fortune as the stock value of his flagship holding, Dangote Cement, leaped just about three-fourths since March 2013, when Forbes last released its yearly ranking of the world's richest people.
With a current market cap of $20.5 billion, Dangote Cement becomes the first Nigerian company to achieve a market capitalisation of over $20 billion. The global business and financial intelligence news magazine, Forbes, reported that Dangote's 93 per cent stake in the cement company is now worth $19.5 billion.
Carl Franklin, the head of Dangote Cement’s investor relations team in the UK, said:“Quarter one was the first sign of just how profitable we can be in Nigeria. The amazing thing is that 66% of our gas-fired production in quarter one was done at 84% gas. "Imagine what would happen to margins if we did the same amount at 95%. This has given investors a good sense of what we can really do when everything goes in the right direction.”
Added to this are his controlling stakes in other public-listed companies like Dangote Sugar and National Salt Company of Nigeria, and his significant shareholdings in other blue chips like Zenith Bank, UBA Group and Dangote Flour.
He equally has extensive real estate portfolio, jets, yachts and current cash position, which includes over $300 million in recently-awarded Dangote Cement, which puts his current worth at over $20 billion.
With his fortune, Dangote is richer than Russia's richest man, Alisher Usmanov, India's Lakshmi Mittal and running neck and neck with India's Mukesh Ambani. He is also catching up on such Americans as Google's billionaire founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin.
Dangote Cement had recorded an unprecedented surge in share price largely due to market response to its impressive results in the first quarter of this year. Its unaudited results for the three months ending March 31 showed that the company's pre-tax profit rose to $339 million, representing an 80.6 per cent increase from last year and a strong indicator of the company's future earning potential.
The results also indicate a 79.5 per cent rise in its earnings per share over the corresponding period last year. While Forbes reasoned that other companies might eventually achieve this, it noted but it would take a bit of time. Dangote Cement currently accounts for over a quarter of the total market capitalization of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
The second largest company on the NSE is currently West Africa's largest manufacturer of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, Nigerian Breweries, with a market cap of $8.5 billion.
Dangote debuted on Forbes' billionaires list in 2008 with a fortune at $3.3 billion, which dropped to $2.5 billion in 2009 and plunged further to $2.1 billion in 2010.
This, however, surged 557 per cent in 2011 to $13.8 billion after he took Dangote Cement public. He dropped to $11.2 billion in last year's rankings, but rebounded at $16.1 billion this year. Since March, his fortune has jumped another 30 per cent.
Forbes believes that Dangote still has bigger ambitions, as he reportedly told the magazine's Wealth Editor, Luisa Kroll, at Davos in 2011 that he expected his firm to have a market cap of $60 billion within five years.
What I found amusing in all of this is that Aliko, the son of Dangote started off in the seventies as a mere trader in cement. Today, he is one of the world's largest cement manufacturers, vis-a-vis other business concerns.
All of us do not have to be billionaires, but we can work our ways to the top in our chosen vocations and be relevant in society and beneficial to mankind.
It is very convenient to fold your hands and blame your woes on the Nigerian epileptic system. No regular power supply, no fuel, no government incentives, no this no that. Yet, in the midst of all of these inadequacies, some people are making head ways in their chosen vocations and consistently climbing up the ladder.
Why brand yourself the weeping child? Look beyond your present status and limitations and begin to think globally. The unfortunate truth is that, there are people whose destinies are tied to yours. There are people whose elevation in life is tied to your own elevation. If you continue to complain and fail to soar above environmental limitations, you inadvertently jeopardize their emergence!
So, it is time to re-charge your inner battery. The law of relative comparison favours your glowing heretofore. For if Aliko, a little boy from Kano, can rise from nowhere to become a global brand today, then there is no tenable excuse for you not to soar.
If he can, you can.
Dr. Thomas S. Wilson
Akure
First published in Trace News Magazine, 23rd March 2014.
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