Key Factors
- Dangote’s web price has reached $28.7 billion, pushed by refinery stake and inventory positive factors in Dangote Cement and Dangote Sugar.
- Dangote plans to checklist his $20 billion refinery on the Nigerian Trade, opening funding to on a regular basis Nigerians and establishments.
- Refinery output hit 500,000 barrels day by day in early 2025, with upgrades underway to spice up capability to 700,000 barrels.
Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, is seeing one other sturdy 12 months in 2025, along with his fortune edging nearer to $29 billion. His current push into power by the $20 billion Dangote Petroleum Refinery continues to attract consideration, and now he says the refinery will quickly be listed on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX)—a transfer that will enable on a regular basis Nigerians to purchase shares in one of many nation’s most bold industrial tasks.
$28.7 billion and climbing for Dangote
Based on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Dangote’s web price stands at $28.7 billion on the time of drafting this report. Most of that comes from his 92.3 % stake within the refinery and his holdings in listed corporations underneath the Dangote Group, together with Dangote Cement and Dangote Sugar Refinery. For the reason that begin of the 12 months, his fortune has grown by $634 million, lifted by sturdy inventory market efficiency. Shares in Dangote Cement are up 10.4 percent, whereas Dangote Sugar has surged more than 120 percent.
Firm earnings replicate the uptick. Dangote Cement reported N2.07 trillion ($1.35 billion) in revenue for the primary half of 2025, a 17.7 % improve from the identical interval final 12 months. Revenue after tax greater than doubled to N520.46 billion ($340.27 million). Dangote Sugar, which posted a significant loss final 12 months, recorded a 45.5 percent jump in revenue to N430.21 billion ($281.66 million) and narrowed its web loss to simply N626.11 million ($0.41 million). The rebound was pushed by stronger demand, value financial savings, and regular gross sales.
Dangote confirms refinery itemizing plans
On the International Commodity Insights Convention in Abuja, hosted by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority and S&P International Insights, Dangote confirmed plans to take the refinery public. “Very quickly, the refinery shall be listed to offer all Nigerians the chance to turn into shareholders,” he mentioned. “We’re open to partnerships with African governments, personal buyers, and regional establishments. Our imaginative and prescient is easy however bold.”
Itemizing the refinery would enable people, institutional funds, and presumably sovereign wealth funds to spend money on the 650,000-barrels-per-day facility—Africa’s largest. However past elevating capital, the transfer alerts a shift towards shared possession of the continent’s power infrastructure, which has lengthy been dominated by a small group of gamers.
Operations on the refinery, which got here on-line final 12 months, have been steadily ramping up. Manufacturing climbed from 350,000 barrels per day in mid-2024 to 500,000 by January 2025. That improve has already helped reduce Nigeria’s gasoline imports—no small feat for a rustic that continues to be Africa’s largest oil producer.
For the primary time in over a decade, South Africa has overtaken Nigeria because the continent’s prime gasoline importer. Upgrades are actually underway to boost output additional to 700,000 barrels per day. As soon as full, the growth might raise the refinery’s valuation and strengthen its world standing.
Constructing wealth by native roots
Dangote isn’t stopping there. He’s also expanding Dangote Fertilizer Limited, his $3 billion fertilizer plant in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos, as a part of a broader push to scale back Africa’s dependence on imported agricultural inputs. The plant is now making ready for a potential itemizing on the NGX, which might worth it at greater than $3 billion.
Constructed on 500 hectares, it’s already the largest fertilizer plant on the continent. However past scale, its affect is evident: it will possibly produce as much as 3 million metric tonnes of urea yearly—twice what Nigeria consumes. That surplus is predicted to scale back costs for native farmers, enable for blends suited to particular soil sorts, and unlock export markets throughout West and Central Africa.
For Dangote, these aren’t simply enterprise milestones. They’re a part of a wider effort to assist Africa rely extra on itself, for power, for meals, and for development that advantages unusual individuals. As he places it, the aim is simple: “We need to give everybody a stake in what we’re constructing.”
