Cutting Out the Middleman

In 1997, Dangote realized that acting as a middleman was a very costly endeavor, so he built a plant to produce what he had been importing and selling for the previous 20 years: pasta, sugar, salt, and flour. Around the same time, Dangote was awarded a state-owned cement company. Dangote significantly expanded the operations of the company in 2005 by constructing a multimillion-dollar manufacturing plant. The construction was financed with $319 million of Dangote’s own money in addition to a $479 million loan from the International Finance Corporation, a sister organization of the World Bank.

Each of his manufacturing divisions has since been separated into publicly traded companies: Dangote Sugar Refinery PLC., National Salt Company of Nigeria PLC., Dangote Flour Mills PLC., and Dangote Cements PLC.

Expanding the Empire

Dangote has always reinvested the majority of his profits back into his businesses, which is one reason the company has grown so much since inception. During an interview with Al Jazeera News, Aliko Dangote explained, ‘‘We [Dangote Group] are not doing like other Africans who keep most of their money in the bank. We do not keep money in the bank. We fully invest whatever we have and we keep on investing. (sic)’’

Unlike many wealthy Nigerians who made their fortune in oil, Dangote initially chose to go down a different path, but he has since entered the oil and gas industry. In an effort to put some of his cash reserves to work, Dangote purchased an oil refinery in Lagos in 2007. He hopes the refinery, which is scheduled to be at full capacity by 2020, will significantly reduce Nigeria’s reliance on international suppliers for oil and gas. The $10 billion refinery in Nigeria is expected to produce 650,000 barrels of oil per day.

The Bottom Line

Aliko Dangote’s journey to fortune is not a rags-to-riches story. He came from a wealthy family that was able to provide financial assistance to start his business. Over the years, Dangote has expanded into new business segments, including telecommunications, real estate, and steel manufacturing. Today his holding company, Dangote Group, is the largest conglomerate in West Africa.

Culled from Investopedia.

Sterling Bank Plc, Nigeria’s commercial bank, has offered a safe option for investments in its Doubble.ng product to discerning investors seeking double-digit investment income and safety in this period of heightened market volatility and unpredictable macroeconomic environment.

Doubble.ng is an investment product which is denominated in Naira and Dollar with short and long-term options.

According to Adekunle Feyisitan, product manager, Sterling Bank, Doubble.ng was designed to address the concerns of individuals who are looking to accumulate savings and regular investment income over a specific timeline to plan for future business or lifestyle needs.

He listed benefits of the product options to include guaranteed income stream and growth for a fixed period of time, safety from market volatility, ability to access loan facilities against balance and opportunity to transfer the annuity to a spouse or any other named beneficiary.

Feyisitan said, “With Doubble.ng, a customer can choose to invest either a lump sum in one contribution or in smaller monthly contributions, which could be for the duration of 12 to 120 months with all pay-outs remitted either monthly or as a lump sum once target is achieved to named beneficiaries.

“It empowers individuals to plan towards future consistent cash outflows such as payment for children’s further education, mortgages or funds for business start-up. Doubble.ng is actually the perfect investment vehicle for those planning to transition from paid employment to owner-businesses and need to plan the cash flow in the business growth years”.

The product manager added that Doubble.ng target option allows the beneficiary to set target saving and interest income in Naira or Dollar over a specified period while additional voluntary contributions can be made into the investment account apart from the regular contributions based on the initial set date because an investor is at liberty to take up multiple plans.

He assured customers of efficient and prompt service delivery and urged those in active employment as well as entrepreneurs to take advantage of the high-income growth product to maximise returns on investment at this volatile and uncertain time.

The product offers four variants to discerning investors, including 3, 5 and 10 year plans as well as short-term target investments.

With a 3-year contract plan during which the investor makes monthly contributions for the first three years, Sterling Bank will pay out the invested amount plus returns to the beneficiary every month for the following three years. It has returns on investment of 125 percent.

Early Life and Education of the Richest African

Born in 1957, Dangote grew up in an entrepreneurial household in Kano State, Nigeria. He was raised Muslim and lived an upper-class life. Dangote’s grandfather, Sanusi Dantata, was once named one of the wealthiest people living in Kano. He made his fortune selling commodities like oats and rice. Dantata became Dangote’s guardian in 1965 after the death of his father.

Having spent much of his childhood with his grandfather, Dangote quickly became interested in the world of business, once saying, “I can remember when I was in primary school, I would go and buy cartons of sweets [sugar boxes] and I would start selling them just to make money. I was so interested in business, even at that time.

At age 21, Dangote graduated from Egypt’s Al-Azhar University, one of Islam’s prestigious universities. It was there the budding entrepreneur furthered his education in business.

After graduating from college in 1977, Dangote managed to convince his uncle to lend him money to start a business. The funds from the loan allowed him to import soft commodities at wholesale prices from international suppliers. Two of his main imports were rice from Thailand and sugar from Brazil. He then sold those items in small quantities to consumers in his village at a lucrative markup. The venture quickly became successful and turned into a cash cow. In an interview with Forbes, Dangote claims that on his best days, he was realizing a daily net profit of $10,000. That allowed him to repay his uncle in only three months.

To be Continued….
Culled from Investopedia.

With the COVID-19 Pandemic ravaging globally, shopping online has become a necessity and an out-and-out way to administer much needed social distancing protocols. But did you know that you can save and earn money while buying stuff online? From buying gadgets and books on Amazon to buying clothes on GAP or Macy’s, many reward programs now exist to help you leave some change in your pockets after you checkout. While some programs give points which can be converted and spent after accumulation, some others pay by way of gift cards and still others give cash which can be used or withdrawn after some threshold.

Honey https://www.joinhoney.com/ finds automatic coupons that helps you with discounts when you shop online. You can install the honey Google chrome extension for automatic access every time you buy stuff online. Thanks to Honey Gold, you can now earn gift cards too. Even Amazon gift cards. This is one loyalty program where you spend less and score big.

Another popular option is Rakuten https://www.rakuten.com/ which pays up to 10% cash back on everyday essentials. It is affiliated to many everyday online stores and will always remind you about how much savings you are making before checkout. Cash back services are also available by this provider.

Nigeria is taking the lead as the foremost African Country for cryptocurrency usage with bitcoin fast becoming the medium for international payments and tranfers,  

In 2019 Google Trends, Lagos, Nigeria was the number one city based on online search volumes for Bitcoin worldwide. While recently, in May 2020, Arcade Research ranked Nigeria fifth globally with its 11% of connected Nigerians owning or using cryptocurrencies. 

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At the age of 21, Aliko Dangote borrowed $3,000 from his uncle to import and sell agricultural commodities in Nigeria, his native Country. His business venture quickly became a success, and as a result, he managed to repay the entire loan within three months of starting operations. For the seventh in a row, Dangote was the richest man in Africa in 2018, with an estimated net worth of $14.1 billion ($10.1billion,2020). The business empire he began to build more than three decades ago, Dangote Group, is one of the largest private-sector employers in Nigeria as well as the most valuable conglomerate in West Africa.

Dangote’s business interests encompass many industries, including oil and gas, consumer goods and manufacturing. About 80% of his conglomerate’s revenue comes from Dangote Cement. According to Forbes magazine, the subsidiary produces 44 million metric tons of cement every year and plans to increase output by 33% by 2020. Dangote also owns the world’s third-largest sugar refinery, and together all of his publicly traded companies make up a quarter of the market capitalization of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

Aliko Dangote turned a local commodities trading businesses into a multibillion-dollar corporation. Here’s how he did it.

To be continued…

Culled from Investopedia.