Aliko Dangote
Pro-Chancellor, distinguished friends, colleagues, graduands and guests.
The founder, president and chief executive of one of Africa’s largest companies, Aliko Dangote has supported Nigeria and Africa’s economy to grow since launching his own business in 1978. 18 months since he visited the Cathedral to see his daughter collect her own degree certificate, we welcome him back to Coventry today to recognise his work with an honorary doctorate of business administration.
Alongside leading one of the largest manufacturing conglomerates in sub-Saharan Africa, the Al-Azahar University graduate is a one-time president of the Nigerian Stock Exchange and has made significant contributions to communities across Africa.
Born in 1957 and graduating with a degree in business studies, Aliko started trading sugar, rice and cement before launching into manufacturing. By the early 90’s the Dangote Group had grown into one of the largest trading conglomerates in Nigeria, and has since expanded across 18 African countries.
His business has gone from strength-to-strength, with the group now boasting the second largest sugar refinery in the world and a cement operation that has a combined capacity of 44 million metric tonnes per year. Dangote Cement plc was the first Nigerian company to join the Forbes Global 2000 Companies list.
The group also boasts other titles, rated among the top 40 African Challengers by the Boston Consulting Group in 2010 and one of the top African Brands by London-based African Business magazine in 2013. The magazine also voted it the Top Consumer Brand in Africa.
With a host of accolades to his name, in 2013 Forbes Magazine described him the most powerful man in Africa, he is also featured as the richest black man in the world. TIME also listed him among the 100 most influential people in the world in 2014, the same year that CNBC inducted him into the list of top 25 businessmen in the world.
Aliko’s business outside of work is also highly praised. His philanthropic nature is applauded across the world; in 2012 he donated $110 million to various causes. In recognition of this, he holds the second highest national honour in Nigeria – Grand Commander of the Order of Niger, and the highest honour in the Republic of Benin – the Grand Commander of the Order of Benin Republic.
Outside of Nigeria, Aliko has also supported thousands of individuals suffering across the world. In 2010, he donated $2 million to support the United Nations’ World Food Programme in Pakistan following devastating floods, and is working with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to fight Polio. As a member of the McKinsey Advisory Council and Clinton Global Initiative, he is also a member of the International Business Council of the World Economic Forum.
Appointed a co-chairman of the Presidential Committee on Flood Relief and Rehabilitation in 2012, Aliko has also supported flood victims, making a donation of $16 million at the committee’s fundraising dinner.
Along with launching his own business, Aliko is a founding member of the Gordon Brown-led Global Business Coalition for Education, and as a representative from business, he is one of the Board of Directors of the Corporate Council on Africa, an organisation that focuses on promoting business and investment between the US and Africa. He is also on the Board of ONE, the anti-poverty group, co-founded by the Irish celebrity, Bono. He was named Co-Chair of the US-Africa Business Centre in September 2016, by the United States Chamber of Commerce. Keen to support innovation and entrepreneurs, he also made a donation of $32 million to the Bank of Industry to fund micro, small and medium-sized companies in Nigeria.
In recognition of his outstanding contribution to business and social enterprise and outstanding service to humanity, Coventry University, by decision of the Academic Board, has the privilege of conferring the Degree of Doctor of Business Administration, honoris causa, on Aliko Dangote.