Aliko Dangote

Aliko Dangote is a Nigerian industrialist who founded Dangote Group, a business organization that developed from trading into manufacturing and other industries. Dangote Industries Limited identifies him as the group’s President and Chief Executive.

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About Aliko Dangote

Profile information current to 2026-08-22.

Nigeria · Industrialist, Businessman · 3 affiliations

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Known for: Nigerian industrial development and manufacturing; Cement and petroleum refining industries
Country: Nigeria

Industrialist
Businessman

At a glance

Dangote Industries Limited identifies him as the founder and President/Chief Executive of Dangote Group.
His principal business interests include manufacturing, cement and petroleum refining.
Dangote Cement’s 2025 audited statements identify him as the ultimate owner of Dangote Industries Limited, which held 86.65% of Dangote Cement at year-end.
A Nigerian Exchange governance filing records his retirement as chairman of Dangote Cement on July 25, 2025.
He received Nigeria’s Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger national honour in 2011.

Background and early business career

Dangote was born in Kano, Nigeria, in 1957 and studied business at Al-Azhar University in Cairo. Dangote Industries Limited says he began by trading rice, sugar and cement before moving into full-scale manufacturing. Sources give different dates for the start of his commercial career: company biographies cite 1978, Bloomberg cites an initial cement-trading business in 1977, and the company history dates the founding of Dangote Group to 1981.

Development of Dangote Group

Dangote Industries Limited describes the group as having developed from a trading venture into a diversified organization with manufacturing operations. The company identifies Dangote as its founder and President/Chief Executive, while the State House has described his work in terms of Nigerian industrial development and manufacturing.

Cement, ownership and petroleum refining

Dangote’s major industrial interests include cement and petroleum refining. Dangote Cement’s audited financial statements for 2025 identify him as the ultimate owner of Dangote Industries Limited and report that Dangote Industries Limited held 86.65% of Dangote Cement shares at December 31, 2025, while Dangote personally held 0.17%. Dangote Petroleum Refinery identifies him as its President/Chief Executive.

Corporate governance and public recognition

A Dangote Cement governance report filed through the Nigerian Exchange records Dangote’s retirement as board chairman on July 25, 2025, and names Emmanuel Ikazoboh as chairman from that date. This later filing conflicts with an apparently unupdated Dangote biography page that continued to identify Dangote as chairman. Separately, Dangote received Nigeria’s Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger national honour in 2011.

Affiliations

Dangote Group Founder and President/Chief Executive 1981–present
Dangote Petroleum Refinery President/Chief Executive present
Dangote Cement Plc Chairman of the board 2025-07-25

Timeline

1957 Born in Kano, Nigeria.
1981 Dangote Industries Limited dates the founding of Dangote Group to 1981.
2011 Received Nigeria’s Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger.
2025-07-25 A Dangote Cement governance filing records his retirement as chairman of the company’s board and records Emmanuel Ikazoboh as chairman effective the same date.

Additional verified details

Current context

Dangote Industries Limited’s biography page identifies Aliko Dangote as founder and President/Chief Executive of Dangote Group. This is a current company-published role description. No independently filed Dangote Industries Limited officer register was located in the supplied research.
Dangote Cement Plc’s governance report for the year ended December 31, 2025 records Aliko Dangote as having retired as board chairman on July 25, 2025, with Emmanuel Ikazoboh recorded as chairman from that date. The later Nigerian Exchange filing conflicts with an apparently unupdated Dangote biography webpage that still identifies him as chairman of Dangote Cement.
Forbes’ 2026 Africa billionaires list ranked Dangote first and estimated his wealth at $28.5 billion at the time of the list. The ranking and wealth estimate are list-specific and time-sensitive, not stable biographical facts.

Biographical facts

Dangote studied business at Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt.
Dangote Industries Limited says he began his business career trading rice, sugar and cement before moving into full-scale manufacturing.
Dangote Cement Plc’s audited financial statements for 2025 identify Dangote as the ultimate owner of Dangote Industries Limited. The filing reports that Dangote Industries Limited held 86.65% and Aliko Dangote held 0.17% of Dangote Cement shares as of December 31, 2025.
Dangote received Nigeria’s Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger national honour in 2011.