“I Came To This World With Zero And I Will Depart With Zero” — Aliko Dangote

Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has said he came into this world with nothing and will leave with nothing, stressing that his only desire is to create prosperity that will remain as his legacy.

Dangote, President and Chief Executive of Dangote Group, stated this in a documentary feature by CNN Create, where he spoke on his business philosophy, the Dangote Refinery and his “Africa First” industrial strategy.

“I came to this world with zero, and I will depart also with zero. What do I want to do? I need to create prosperity, and creating prosperity is what I will leave behind as a legacy,” Dangote said.

The billionaire industrialist revealed an ambitious Vision 2030 target to push Dangote Group’s turnover to over $100 billion, anchored on his “Africa First” philosophy which means investing in the continent, leading the way and taking Africa to the next level.

Reflecting on his journey, Dangote said he started out trying to build a strong trading company but realized trading adds no real value.

“From the beginning, we were just sort of trying to build a very strong trading company. But a trader doesn’t really add any value. We are looking at what do we need as a continent? We decided that look, we should be producing what we are importing,” he said.

That decision, he said, drove massive investments in cement, fertilizer, sugar and most recently the Dangote Petroleum Refinery in Lekki, Lagos — which he described as the biggest ever built by any company in the world.

“You can see we are moving very fast and at scale. Our refinery here, nobody believed that we would be able to deliver. This is the biggest ever built by any company in the world, and we built it,” Dangote added.

He said his Africa First model is focused on job creation, food security and large-scale infrastructure, declaring that this is the moment of Africa rising.

“I like challenges. I believe if there’s any human being that can do something in this world, I can also do it. Nothing is impossible,” he said.