AFRICA and Nigeria’s richest businessman, Aliko Dangote, is set to land at the Harare International Airport today on a two-day visit where he is expected to seal several business deals and probably breathe a new lease of life into the country’s comatose economy.
by XOLISANI NCUBE
Industry minister, Mike Bimha, yesterday confirmed Dangote’s tour saying the Nigerian business mogul would meet top government and business leaders as part of efforts to expand his business interests into Zimbabwe and bring in the much-needed foreign direct investments.
“It’s unfortunate that I am out of the country at the moment to give you more details to his visit, but he will hold crucial meetings with various ministers as he wants to invest in our country. My ministry has been facilitating his visit which basically is about opening doors to foreign investors seeking to help grow our economy,” Bimha said.
Dangote, who has business interests in his native country Nigeria, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Zambia and Nepal – according to Bimha will hold meetings with Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa, Local Government minister Saviour Kasukuwere, Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa, Investment Promotion minister Simon Khaya Moyo and captains of industry.
“I understand that he wants to establish key business interests in the country hence we invited him so that he could explore all possible avenues,” Bimha said.
The Nigerian with net worth of $15 billion, according to ForbesMagazine, has interests in cement production through his brand, Dangote Cement. He is also involved in sugar milling. Government sources said Dangote was planning to set up a cement plant in the Midlands Province.
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In the past months, the Nigerian business magnate has opened up various projects across the continent and more recently a $4,3 billion joint venture projects with a Chinese engineering company-Sinoma International Engineering Co, to build factories for his cement company across Africa and Asia.
The deal according to reports will see Sinoma build seven cement plants across Cameroon, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Zambia and Nepal. The new factories will be completed within 30 months and will add about 25 million tons to Dangote Cement’s current production capacity of 45 million tonnes per annum.
While Nigeria remains the largest revenue earner for Dangote Cement, accounting for 86% of the company’s total revenue, sales outside Nigeria now account for 14% of the company’s sales, up from 3% the previous year, according to the company’s half-year results published last month.
Besides being the richest man on the Africa continent, Dangote is number 67 on the World Billionaires List and his $15 billion fortune–mostly from three majority stakes in publicly-listed cement, sugar and flour companies.
