Aliko Dangote becomes world’s 70th richest person, net worth surpasses $20.4 billion

Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote has now become the 70th richest man in the world after surpassing U.S. billionaires Dan Gilbert, Abigail Johnson and Thomas Frist, whose net worth has declined by more than $3 billion since the year began.

The Nigerian billionaire and chairman of Dangote Group, Africa’s most diversified manufacturing conglomerate, has seen his net worth increase by more than $1.3 billion since the beginning of the year, from $19.1 billion on Jan. 1 to $20.4 billion at the time of writing this report.

The increase in his net worth can be attributed to the year-to-date performance of his cement company, Dangote Cement Plc, on the Nigerian Exchange, as the market value of his 86-percent stake in the cement company exceeds $10 billion.

Dangote also derives a total of $5.15 billion in wealth from his recently completed urea fertilizer plant in Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city.

Dangote’s latest ranking as the world’s 70th wealthiest person represents a significant gain for the leading billionaire, who began the year as the 97th richest man in the world after recording significant net-worth gains throughout 2021.

Dangote’s other publicly traded assets include stakes in Dangote Sugar, Nascon Allied Industries and United Bank for Africa, in addition to Dangote Cement, Africa’s largest cement producer, with a total capacity of 51.55 million tonnes of cement produced per year across 10 countries.

His stakes in the publicly traded companies are held directly and through Dangote Industries, which also owns closely held businesses operating in food manufacturing, fertilizer, oil and other industries under his conglomerate.

According to a recent filing on the Nigerian Exchange on Friday, his sugar company, Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc, increased its earnings in the first quarter of 2022 by 8.3 percent from N8.3 billion ($20 million) in the same period in 2021 to N8.87 billion ($21.4 million), driven by a 40-percent increase in revenue above N94.5 billion ($227 million).