Dangote Group seals deal with Ethiopia on $2.5bn fertilizer plant - ITREALMS

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Major move to industrialize Africa's agriculture and enhance food security has led Dangote Group and the Government of Ethiopia, through its strategic investment arm Ethiopian Investment Holdings (EIH), following a shareholder agreement to build a world-class urea fertilizer production complex, reports ITREALMS.

The ambitious project, valued at up to $2.5 billion, will be one of the largest industrial investments in Ethiopian history. It will establish a single-site urea fertilizer complex in Gode, with a massive production capacity of up to 3 million metric tons per annum. This scale will place the facility among the top five largest urea complexes globally.

Dangote listed among World’s 50 most influential personalities

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Bloomberg, the renowned United States-based news media with bias for business and financial news reporting has listed the President, Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, among the 50 world’s most influential personalities, ITRealms reports.

Others considered as primus inter pares in the world, ITRealms gathered, include CEOs, world leaders as well as religious leaders. Expectedly, US President, Barack Obama; German Chancellor, Angela Merkel; and Pope Francis made the list, with Dangote ranked 41st.

According to information from Nairaland, Bloomberg stated that those on the list “build companies and assemble fortunes. They run banks, or hope to disrupt them. They shape economies and spread ideas. They manage money and wield the clout that goes with the billions of dollars they invest.”

On Dangote, Bloomberg stated, “Africa’s most successful businessman built his fortune in sugar, textiles and cement in his native Nigeria, where today he’s a political as well as a financial power broker. He’s expanding in other countries and may list his cement company in London.”

Paul Wallace of the media outfit wrote, “Dangote is feted like royalty. He has businesses ranging from cement to sugar to energy in a dozen sub-Saharan countries. He’s a fixture at elite gatherings such as the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. No African has ridden the continent’s halting march out of poverty toward potential prosperity as spectacularly as its richest person, the Nigerian industrialist, Aliko Dangote.

“Dangote’s clout extends beyond the boardroom and the high-flier dinner circuit. In March, as votes were tallied in Nigeria’s presidential election, Dangote, 58, served as an intermediary between the camps of the incumbent, Goodluck Jonathan, and the ultimate winner of the election, Muhammadu Buhari.”

Addressing a global audience at a Financial Times Africa Summit in London on Sunday,  ITRealms also reports, Dangote had expressed confidence that Nigeria would weather the oil shock that had decimated government revenues if it stepped up the fight against corruption.

Cyriacus Nnaji/ED,OPs

 
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Dangote says choice of Cameroon for N49.79b cement investment strategic

ITRealms:

The President, Dangote Group, AlikoDangote, has revealed that the choice of Cameroon for the multi-billion Naira cement investment is quite strategic, ITRealms reports.

Cameroon is the largest economy in Central Africa and is well endowed with abundant natural resources. The country also enjoys political stability, adequate security and growing infrastructural development in addition to President Biya’s creation of an enabling environment that has continued to attract investors both from within and outside the African continent.

“For this reason, we feel particularly at home in Cameroon. And for this reason too, we are determined to explore other areas where we can contribute our own quota to the remarkable economic transformation, taking place under the government of President Biya”, he said.

He stated that due to the warm welcome given to Dangote Cement, the company has decided to begin work on the second phase of the plant, which will see the doubling of its capacity from the current 1.5mmetrictonnesperannum (mtpa) to 3.0mmtpa.

“Our desire to increase our investment with the Phase 2 project is based on not only the fast growth rate of the Cameroonian economy but also due to the warm welcome extended to us and the enabling environment created by the government of Cameroon,”he said.
 

As part of its effort to fast-track economic integration within Africa, Dangote Cement Plc,  commissioned its $250 million (about N49.79 billion)  1.5million metric tonnes per annum cement grinding plant in Douala, Camaroon,  barely three weeks after the cement plant in Zambia was commissioned.
 

The company, in addition laid foundation for a 200m Jetty in Base Elf area, of the Douala Port of Cameroon.

Dangote said he was delight at the commissioning of the project which commenced in 2011, adding that the plant is the company’s largest Greenfield project in a neighbouring country, which Nigeria has a long history of brotherly relationship that dates back to the colonial era.

CyriacusNnaji/GEE

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Dangote addresses the world at Demo Africa

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The Chairman, Dangote Group and Africa’s richest man, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, will address a global audience at the 2015 edition of DEMO Africa scheduled to take place at Eko Hotel and Suites, Lagos on September 24 and 25.

DEMO Africa, the flagship initiatives of LIONS@frica which objective is to connect African start-ups to the global ecosystem, ITRealms gathered, is the place where the most innovative companies from African countries get a platform to launch and announce to Africa and the world what difference their products are capable of making to prospective customers.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Precise Financial System (PFS) who is also the Chairman, Local Organizing Committee (LOC) of the event, Yele Okeremi, confirmed the development in a press release, saying that Dangote is expected to share his entrepreneurship and startups experience with 30 technology startups that have been selected to demonstrate how their products will positively impact the world.

The information, ITRealms also reports, stated that the event which is co-hosted by National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and Ministry of Communication Technology will have the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Communication and Technology, Dr. Tunji Olaopa; Managing Director, Kuramo Capital (a venture capitalist company with current investment of $5m about N995.2million in hotel.ng), Mobolaji Adeoye, and the Director, Intel Capital, Tobi Oke, as speakers.

Other speakers include the Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Peter Jack; the Founder, Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology [MEST], that trains, mentors and invests in world-class technology entrepreneurs and African startups from Ghana and Nigeria, Jorn Lyseggen; the CEO, African Technology Foundation, Stephen Ozoigbo among others.

DEMO Africa, ITRealms learnt, recently released a list of 30 technology start-ups from across Africa that will pitch at the 2015 edition of the event. With eight representatives, Nigeria tops the list again. Kenya is second with six startups. South Africa is third with three representatives while Ghana, Egypt, Cameroon and Zimbabwe have two entrepreneurs respectively. Uganda, Tanzania and newcomer, Ivory Coast, have one startup each.

According to DEMO Africa Executive Producer, Harry Hare, globally, the “DEMO experience has helped to introduce new products and services that have become popular brands in the business and consumer markets, which include Evernote, Salesforce, Cisco webex, Jawbone, Waze, and Tivo among others. DEMO Africa provides a great opportunity for African start-ups to showcase their innovation to the rest of the world”.

Cyriacus Nnaji/GEE

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Pix:Aliko Dangote