ALIKO DANGOTE, World’s Richest Black

DEDICATION: This piece is written for and dedicated to all the hardworking men and women of this world. Those who toil day and night with the hope that tomorrow will be better than yesterday, those who fast today so that they can have their fill tomorrow, those who labour on in the face of the incredible hardships of life, those who struggle relentlessly despite the greatest travails and challenges thrown at them, those who manage to have a cheerful smile on a face full of sweat and tears, it is to those, Abiyamo dedicates this. 

”Aliko Dangote deserves more honours than those of us holding political offices’.

-GOODLUCK EBELE JONATHAN, Nigerian President.

Dangote. The confident smile of a billionaire.

Some weeks ago, I was telling my friends that if you give Aliko Dangote, the most successful black businessman on earth about eight more years, he will become the richest man in the world. Then the argument started. Hmmm…you needed to be there! Fingers were pointing furiously and some eyeballs were almost plucked out of their sockets. Veins pulsated and muscles twitched like mad. We raised the tempo of the noise and almost brought down the roof. As we sweated it out, one of my friends was shouting vociferously (if you dey read this, you know sey I know kuku send una na…lol!) that it was impossible, that ‘do I know what it means to be the richest man on earth’ bla bla, with all the plenty grammar! Thank God sey our Landlord no dey house that day, e for purshoe (make I toosh am na) us comot for hin house, and maybe we for go carry our palis apply for Dangote company to be ‘superdrivers’ and use hin cement truck for bedrooms.

A few days after our ‘National Assembly argument’, Dangote jumped 33 places from 76 to become number 43 in the world. You will appreciate that better when you realize he was at a distant number 334 in 2008. From $3.3billion to $16.1 billion in just 5 years! In 2011, Forbes released its earth-shaking list of billionaires and there was a startling revelation: a 54-year-old Nigerian man was the biggest gainer in percentage terms -an incredible 557%, when many billionaires were losing chunks of money and even dropped out of the list! Trust me na, I kukuma do ‘tongue’ for my friends that day…lol! A very confident and optimistic man, Dangote believes that by the time he is 62 in 2019, he’d be worth around $70 billion. I don’t doubt that presumption.

Hmmm….Aliko. Alhaji Aliko. Dangote. Aliko Dangote. The richest person in Nigeria. Federal Republic of Swagger #Power.Money&Respect #Agbara.Owo-Ati-Iyi. The richest person in West Africa. The richest person in Africa. The richest black person on earth. Okay, person go start him tori noni…lol but seriously speaking, this is one story that will inspire, motivate and make you appreciate what tenacity is all about. Yes, yes, I know, he’s close to government and all that na (there is nothing like unquestionable wealth and as my people will say isale oro legbin meaning if you dig real deep, the source of wealth is always unspeakable, and by the way, have you forgotten this is business we are talking about?), but you need to know that you can also achieve anything in life as long as you are ready to pay the price.

Dangote says: Yes I am a friend with any government in power. Government is too powerful. With the kind of business I run, how do you expect me to be in the opposition?”

The Boss in his office. Take a good look at the plaque on his table, read the caption and be inspired.

What Dangote has on the desk in his office.

A prodigiously wealthy and luxuriantly blessed human, Aliko Dangote said that it took him 30 tortuous years to become a billionaire but youths of today want to become a gazillionaire faster than Usain Bolt. Many Nigerian youths are bitter (like bitterness will make one better), pointing accusing fingers at people like Dangote, Adenuga and generally seeing nothing good in what others do, believing the world is against them. For those, I leave you with the immutable words of JK Rowling, writer of the Harry Potter series: “There is an expiry date on blaming your parents for steering you in the wrong direction; the moment you are old enough to take the wheel, responsibility lies with you.” That is not all. The legendary French writer and philosopher who rejected the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1964, Jean-Paul Sartre also said: “Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does. It is up to you to give life a meaning.” But perhaps, the most poignant advice of all is from the Wise One of China, Confucius, who stated thousands of years ago: “Attack the evil that is within yourself, rather than attacking the evil that is in others.”

In a nation like Nigeria where there is so much negativity emanating right from independence till date, Aliko Mohammad Dangote, the Kano-born billionaire with the Midas touch is a man who must be appreciated and celebrated -for good reasons.

You might well remember that nothing can bring you success but yourself.

-NAPOLEON HILL (1883-1970), American speaker and motivational speaker.

Source: Abiyamo